Duterte visits Capiz, assures residents of assistance

MANILA, Philippines — A day after visiting Leyte areas devastated by Tropical Storm Agaton, President Duterte checked the condition of residents displaced by massive flooding in Capiz and assured them of assistance.

Speaking at the Pontevedra Elementary School Evacuation Center last Saturday, Duterte said agencies are ready to provide food and to repair the houses of people affected by the storm.

“DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) will be here for as long as there are people who cannot eat... who do not have sources of food, we will sustain the food,” the President said.

“Now, with regard to housing repairs, a general – he is not here – Ed del Rosario, is in charge of housing. But I will tell him. I will ask him to come here. For your roads, we have acting (Public Works) Secretary (Roger) Mercado,” he added.

Duterte vowed to check upon his return to Manila if there were other forms of assistance that could be provided to the people of Capiz.

“There is always an assistance because there is the… what you would call the contingency fund,” he added.

Duterte made an aerial inspection to assess the extent of the damage caused by Agaton in Pontevedra, Capiz. He also attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of the Capiz multi-purpose evacuation and convention center during his visit to Barangay Lawaan in Roxas City. The president then led the distribution of relief goods at the Pontevedra Elementary School evacuation center.

Last Friday, Duterte, with Sen. Bong Go, visited the families of landslide victims in Baybay City in Central Leyte, the area worst affected by Agaton, and met with hundreds of evacuees housed at the city high school building, and with some civic leaders and local government unit authorities.

Duterte and Go assured the storm victims that the government would not abandon them, and would continue to provide relief and services.

More than a hundred died from Agaton, with hundreds more still missing or were found injured. A majority of the casualties were in Baybay City’s landslide areas and the rest in the eastern coastal town of Abuyog. – Miriam Desacada, Delon Porcalla