President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. commended Monday local governments and national agencies for conducting successful preemptive evacuation in communities affected by Typhoon Karding, stressing he wants it to become the template in future government disaster responses.
“I think we may have gotten lucky at least this time, a little bit. But I think it’s clear from what we did this last two days is that very, very important is preparation,” Marcos said during a situation briefing he presided in Camp Aguinaldo.
“Get people out of the areas of danger. Put all of your assets that you are going to use pagka mag-rescue, para mag-relief, put them in (safe) place as much as possible… It’s really in the preparation.”
He said local government units (LGUs) did a good job in explaining the situation to the local population and what needs to be done to avoid casualties and mitigate typhoon damage.
The recent government action is a good illustration of an effective response, he said.
“So that’s the approach we will take always,” the President suggested, underscoring the need for a good weather forecast from PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration) to give local officials and government agencies enough time to prepare.
Marcos also highlighted the importance of good coordination between LGUs, disaster agencies, and other partners, noting the preemptive evacuation was successful because of the partnership with the LGUs, which have been doing such initiatives for a long time.
“So that coordination is always, always very important. So I think it’s not yet over. Hindi pa tayo mag-stand down until… I think the point that we can say we can stand down is when the majority of our evacuees are already in their — back home,” he said.
The President also instructed dam managers to coordinate with one another before releasing water to allow people to prepare and avoid inundating low-lying communities.
Dam operators were told by the President to manage and watch the dams under their jurisdiction and refrain from releasing water simultaneously without issuing warnings to affected areas.
“Bantayin niyo na mabuti. We don’t want that incident to happen na sabay-sabay na nagbitaw hindi nag-warning sa mga affected areas na magbibitaw ng tubig kaya nagkaproblema,” he said.
“You’ll be very, very careful about that. Kontrolado naman natin eh so kontrolin natin. The coordination required is going to be important. Ipo Dam, Magat, hindi ‘yung basta’t hindi kayo nag-uusap. Kailangan naka-coordinate nang mabuti.” | PND
