Noy in Cabanatuan, leads distribution of relief goods

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino led officials yesterday in checking the situation in Nueva Ecija, where many areas were flooded by rains brought by Typhoon Lando as he expressed hope that the number of casualties will not increase.

The President traveled by land to Nueva Ecija National High School in Cabanatuan City and led the distribution of relief supplies to residents evacuated from calamity areas.

The President and his officials handed out family food packs, kitchen ware as well as blankets, mosquito nets and mats.

The Palace disclosed that Aquino initially wanted to go to Santa Rosa but the situation there did not allow it. Residents in the town were trapped on their rooftops as floodwaters rose quickly, submerging their houses.

The President arrived at the school at around 4:30 p.m. and was met by Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, Cabanatuan City Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 3 officials led by director Gemma Gabuya.

Evacuees also welcomed Aquino and his officials as they walked to the evacuation center.

“The government I think has responded to all. Casualties hopefully will not climb. But again, we will not take any chances and we will try to ensure that we are on the side of being conservative and making sure that everybody is protected during this time,” said Aquino, who had warned the public about the coming typhoon in a televised address on Friday.

Asked about the scale of devastation, Aquino said they were collating all the data and there were areas where lines of communication had been cut.

He said there was also no electricity in many areas “but there are less and less areas that are somewhat isolated.”

The President said Cabanatuan City was in fact listed as one of those isolated, the reason why they chose to see for themselves the situation.

“The scale? Basically, the challenge here is that you have a lingering typhoon as opposed to just crossing our landmass in a matter of a few hours. The expectation… (is) about three days long. There is something like 800 barangays in several provinces that are deemed susceptible to the effects of rainwater coming down from further up north,” Aquino said.

The President, accompanied by DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Health Secretary Janette Garin, held a meeting with local officials after the distribution of relief goods.

“Now, the challenge with a lot of our countrymen ?is that they don’t seem to see the amount of rain pouring, they think it is safe to go back to their communities, but we are preventing them because the expectations from tonight and after tomorrow, a lot of this rainfall that fell on the northern portion of Luzon will be coming down and will be affecting all of these barangays near the major river systems,” he told reporters after the meeting.

The President said various electric cooperatives were checking their lines to ensure that by the time they would re-energize, there would be no threat of electrocution.

There were 204 families or 961 persons in the evacuation center from 11 barangays.

Still on alert

The government remains on alert as Typhoon Lando continued to move slowly in Northern Luzon and affected thousands of residents, Malacañang said yesterday as it appealed for continuous cooperation from the public and assured them help would reach everyone, even those in isolated areas.

Asked about the response of the local government units so far as well as the various departments and agencies, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the coordination had been timely and effective, though not all affected areas could be easily reached.

“The response mechanisms are enforced. The NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council) has been monitoring the situation on the ground on the various areas affected by Typhoon Lando,” Lacierda said.

He said there were many ways to reach even isolated areas and that relief goods had been prepositioned for families that were and would still be evacuated.

Lacierda also said the administration would be “color blind” when asked if politics could possibly get in the way of rescue operations and providing assistance to victims.

He said they conveyed the same message to the governor of Aurora after the typhoon made landfall in Casiguran and isolated the town last Sunday morning.

“They should not worry because our measures are continuous to make sure that they are reached. We will not cease in making sure that all areas will be reached,” he said.

Lacierda said the government had learned a lot from past disasters that hit the country but “every storm presents new challenges.”

“Because of our disaster response mechanism… and because of the improved weather forecasting, I think the most important thing is if we are able to identify the path of the storm and for that, PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) has been doing a very good job in predicting and forecasting the path of the storm,” Lacierda said.

He said the government was able to identify more accurately where to preposition the relief supplies with PAGASA’s storm tracking.

Of the 4,892 families or 20,492 persons affected in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4-A, 5 and Cordillera Administrative Region, 1,830 families or 6,776 persons were preemptively evacuated, Lacierda said.

As of midnight Sunday, Lacierda said the DSWD has made available P1,169,032,137.15 in standby funds, 196,737 family food packs and P158,164,761.76 worth of food and non-food items.

He added power supply had been restored in five cities and 48 municipalities in Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, La Union, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Tarlac, Laguna and Benguet. – With Mike Frialde, Rainier Allan Ronda, Perseus Echeminada, Janvic Mateo, Mayen Jaymalin, Danessa Rivera, Sheila Crisostomo, Michelle Zoleta, Manny Galvez