PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: Good morning, everyone. This is the situation briefing today. It’s a situation briefing on the effects of Tropical Storm Enteng, especially focusing on the province of Rizal.

So, allow me to call this meeting to order and to proceed down the agenda list. The first part of our agenda are the updates that Gov. Nina will give us on the provincial government’s assessment on the effects of Typhoon Enteng in Rizal province.

[Gov. Nina, please.]

RIZAL GOV. NINA YNARES: Mr. President, good morning and welcome once more to the province of Rizal and good morning po to all our Cabinet secretaries and the national government, everyone who’s here.

Mr. President, we were just together less than a month ago, last July 26 in San Mateo due to the Typhoon [Carina]. And at that time, we already incurred some damages, the usual — San Mateo, Montalban, and Cainta.

For this one, first I’d like to also thank again your government because prior to the storm’s arrival, OCD already called us, RD Alvarez informed us that if we need anything, you’re here. And again, DILG and Secretary Gatchalian, they all reached out.

Thus, it gave us more security to what was expected to come. Mr. President, for this typhoon, Typhoon Enteng, unfortunately, as to what the PAGASA Tanay station told us, the rain that came was — in four days, we got one month’s worth of rain. Malakas po talaga ‘yung bagsak ng tubig ngayon.

And unfortunately, the damage is quite big. We have 33,480 individuals who were evacuated. We had 452 damaged houses, homes and estimated of 300 plus million for damage to infrastructure and 30 million to agriculture.

Unfortunately, there were casualties. There are 12 fatalities and three are still missing, and we’re still in the retrieval and rescue point for those three, the localities.

In Antipolo, there are… [Can we go back to the data please?] In Antipolo, we have a fatality due to landslide and drowning. In Pililla and San Mateo, Tanay and Taytay, also drowning. These are the situations that we incurred.

This is in Sitio Hinapao in Antipolo. Dahil sa lambot po ng lupa, nag-landslide. So, ‘yung mga homes, ‘yung mga tahanan ay tinamaan.

We had 22 active evacuation centers in Antipolo with 429 families, eight in Montalban with 587 families; four in Morong with 47 families; San Mateo, three.

And in Antipolo, here are some more of the footages of the damages we incurred in Antipolo. This in Pililla is a school building.

In Teresa, our bridges… Here’s a footage of what happened in Antipolo, in Mayamot.

Ito po ‘yung nag-viral wherein the cars were swept away sa lakas ng current ng water dito sa Antipolo. That went viral sa social media.

And in Morong, Morong also — in Morong, Mr. President, even the provincial hospital, ‘yung first floor pinasok, tapos we had to move everyone to the second floor.

Sa Morong po kasi mayroon ho kaming problem doon sa hospital with the location.

[Congressman Dino, if you could please, expound on the Morong situation hospital.]

RIZAL REP. DINO TANJUATCO: Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, Cabinet secretaries. Basically, the problem in Morong where the provincial hospital is situated, it’s a basin.

So, every time, even — doesn’t even have to be a heavy downpour, there’s constant flooding within that area.

I spoke with the district engineer and the provincial engineer for mga band-aid solutions.

What we can do is we can provide a temporary or improved drainage system from where the source of the water comes from. So, it comes from Teresa. It goes all the way to Morong.

So, from the source pa lang, magtatayo ng parang catchment or an entrapment facility or a basin. So, ma-divert ‘yung tubig o hindi naman umipon doon sa Morong.

On a more long-term solution, Mr. President, there is a creek at the back of the hospital. From this source, we can create a… [Anong tawag doon, Mayor?] Parang canal. Spillway. Yes, Mr. President. Para doon na pumunta, diretso na po sa creek, sa Morong River. Hindi na po papasok sa bayan.

It’s really more of a flood mitigation solution that we’re looking at to prevent. Kasi ano pa lang. To level the road right now, it’s going to be more expensive kung gagawin…  Kasi talagang basin siya. Kung ipapatag siya, medyo mas mahal kaysa gumawa ng isang spillway.

GOV. YNARES: That’s the hospital.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Bakit ngayon nag-flood?

GOV. YNARES: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Kasi nagka-bagyo naman tayo before. Hindi nga — as you say, hindi naman na-flood ‘yung hospital. Bakit sa palagay — we have to find out…

Well, you know, we can always just say it’s climate change and it is. But we have to really study kung saan dumadaan ‘yung tubig, kung ano ‘yung nagbago.

GOV. YNARES: [off-mic] 

Nafa-flood po siya pero hindi ganyan kalaki.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Kalalim.

GOV. YNARES: Oo, kaya nga po ngayon — ngayon lang lumaki nang ganon dahil doon sa ragasa ng tubig, sa volume ng tubig.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Bakit kung ano… Because the volume of water is actually less than Carina this time. But we are — this is what I noticed also when I was still governor. Nagbabago ‘yung pattern ng dinadaanan ng tubig.

GOV. YNARES: Actually po…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Dati sanay na sanay tayo, pag sinabing may bagyo, alam na natin kung ano ‘yung mga barangay na ma-stranded, saan ‘yung mga ano — saan ‘yung kailangan kunin kaagad, saan tataas ‘yung tubig. So, we send the equipment and everything ahead.

After a while, hindi na sumusunod doon sa dating pattern na nakasanayan natin. So, all right.

What we’re going to have to do here is we’re going to have to really look and see what are the changes that have happened.

Like in the case of Carina in Metro Manila, there were very distinct, there were identifiable causes why they haven’t had that flooding for 15 years but they now did.

Well, it was the concurrence of the habagat, the high water, the high tide and then other things that are — ‘yung mga garbage, ‘yung mga nasira, ‘yung wastegate and everything.

So, that’s what we have to identify now. Kailangan natin tingnan nang mabuti exactly again saan dumaan ang tubig bakit hindi ganon ka-grabe noon, naging grabe na ngayon, naging mataas ‘yung tubig ngayon.

What I suspect ‘yung dinadaan ng tubig noon, either na-block na or nalagyan na ng bahay o ‘yung ating mga dating estero natabunan, nalagyan na naman ng bahay. The usual problems that we face, especially now.

It really has to do with overpopulation. But anyway, I just wanted to know from your experience if this a typical occurrence. Apparently not. So, we’ll have to adjust accordingly. O, ito ‘yung ospital.

GOV. YNARES: Actually po, Mr. President, it is not just that na hindi usually binabaha sa amin nang ganyan kalaki, even Jalajala and Teresa, tinamaan po this time, bumaha po kami doon ngayon. Hindi sila usually binabaha nang of the same gravity.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Why do you think that is?

GOV. YNARES: I’m just thinking that the volume of water really that poured…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: [unclear] too high or is it siltation or is it both or is it?

GOV. YNARES: Well, it’s a lot of factors. Maybe also the environmental factors, the disposal of waste, a lot of aggravating factors that domino effect.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, the volume of rain, as you were saying, ‘yung usual ninyong isang buwan during a monsoon season bumagsak in what? A day and a half?

GOV. YNARES: Four days po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All over the period of four days. Okay, well, all right. So, well, we just have to… Look at that.

GOV. YNARES: That’s Cainta where floodway is.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Ang lakas ng agos. Ba’t ang lakas ng agos ng tubig? O, tingnan mo. Kaya pala ang daming mga drowning.

Tinitingnan ko… I was going to ask you earlier, what were the main causes of death and then you showed the chart, mayroong… Pero ‘yung drowning pinakamarami dahil ganyan. Ang lakas ng flow.

GOV. YNARES: Iyong current po. Iyan po like last time when we discussed. Look, if you can notice, that’s September 1. Then on September 4, look at the amount of water, the dam. Again, ‘yung sinalo ng Wawa. Ganyan kadami, in a span of — from three days gap. There we go again. Again, without it…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Daming ano… It was just the volume of water. We don’t get that volume usually. Kahit pagka — kahit na monsoon, uulan nang mahaba. Siyam-siyam nga. ‘Di ba ang tawag dati siyam-siyam, ngayon wala ng siyam-siyam.

GOV. YNARES: Wala na. Bulaga na lang lahat.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. This is the…?

GOV. YNARES: This is again the proposed reservoir — dams to hopefully… Because of what we saw nga with how Wawa Dam was able to catch and ‘yung bilis ng taas ng tubig niya ay — we’re afraid that time might come what if it overflows or it can no longer…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: May mga Phase 2 tsaka Phase 3 itong Wawa Dam.

DPWH SECRETARY MANUEL BONOAN:  Yes, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, Sec. Manny, please.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN:  We’re now in the process of undertaking the preparation for the construction of three dams in the upper portion of the Upper Wawa Dam now, Mr. President.

And this is under preparations. Unfortunately, we have to do now the feasibility study again because the site of the original flood control dam was already under the Wawa Dam.

So, we have to relocate three dams now in the upper portion so that we will also catch actually the estimated 80 million cubic meters that have to be stored upstream, Mr. President. This will be financed under the Japanese ODA, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: The old Wawa Dam, the original one is already too small for our purposes. Gagamitin pa rin pero maliit lang talaga. It won’t make — it won’t help us that much.

That’s why, I am…. The Wawa Dam project has — even from the very start, hindi lang isa. They have — as the Secretary is saying, they have three more. Kailangan na natin siguro. We are undergoing detailed engineering already.

Okay. All right. Is there more that you’d like to…?

GOV. YNARES:  Mr. President, for almost 20 years now. I believe that a lot of — well a lot of the aggravating factors are the environmental issues.

And for 20 years now, something we cannot stop. But for 20 years now, the province has been very active with our YES program. Thus, we encourage tree planting and recycling, hoping that this would contribute to lessening our flood problems.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Definitely. Do we have any specific programs for Rizal and the upstream portions of the rivers so that we don’t have this problem anymore?

DENR SECRETARY MARIA ANTONIA YULO-LOYZAGA:  Yes, Mr. President. In fact, yesterday, we actually released information regarding a targeted reforestation of the upper Marikina protected landscape which we’ve been working on with the provincial government and many of the mayors in this area.

And that targeted reforestation, Mr. President, just to share. About 85 percent of the protected landscape is still covered in forest cover and vegetation. What we want to do now is on the vegetated area, introduce around three million trees which we are now going to be working on with the provincial government, with academe, with NGOs, with DPWH as well, on this targeted reforestation program for the vegetated area in the Upper Marikina protected landscape.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: So, these are all watershed…?

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Yes sir, these are the higher elevations really.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Can you plant during the rainy season?

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA:  Sir, we have a planting program. We can try to initiate. There are some individual efforts already ongoing by NGOs and by some other groups.

But what we want to do is programmatically already approach the tree planting. The WawaJV group has also committed that they’ll be part of this.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, yes. Well, it’s in their interest for their…

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Yes, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: For their own purposes. Okay. So, how far along are we on that replanting?

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Sir, we’ve estimated the costs already of what it would cost for the three million to happen. But what we need to do is again, just formalize the tasking and the rules and…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Are you familiar with the tree planting program?

GOV. YNARES: Yes.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah. Are they in the right areas? Kayong… I have to — you have to always ask the locals kasi kung minsan ‘yung…

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Sir, kaya po targeted…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: …kung saan-saan nilalagay, hindi naman kailangan.

GOV. YNARES: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah, please, please coordinate of course with local.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Yes, we’re working very closely po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: There’s nothing like a local knowledge.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: They live with this every day.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: So, we have an active program called TRANSFORM po, that we’ve been working on in the province.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Three million trees will cover what area. How big an area?

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Three million trees — just about 4,000 hectares.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: So significant.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: So, we want to reach the 10,000 if we can, of the vegetated…

And Mr. President, we’ve also done a really quick but intensive look on the flooding dynamics of this area.

We’ve actually brought the presentation if there’s interest and time because there have been so many requests for an analysis. So, we’ve done a basic…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: That video that we saw with a very, very fast flow of water. That’s purely attributable to the volume of water na — that came down or is there — are there some other factors at work.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Sir, volume and also — the surfaces that are traverse, sir. If these are all heavily concreted now. There would be no way to stop the speed of the water, really. So, the volume resurfaces.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Why do we not use weirs? Bakit hindi tayo gumagamit ng weir?

A weir is not a dam. Dumadaan ‘yung tubig but you can control the level of the water by the weir. It’s just that I see them in other places and it’s really effective.

Ba’t wala tayog ganun na program? Weirs are… Because as I said, they are not a dam but they do control the flow of the river.

So, pag nilagyan mo ng weir. Adjustable ‘yun kung paano mo ibaba, paano mo itataas. Actually, hindi. It’s not up and down. May butas, may butas na ano. Bubuksan mo, sasara mo.

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: It’s like — it adjusts to the conditions but I don’t see even one single weir here.

I think in Wawa Dam, they’re going to put because I talked to Ricky Razon about it. Why do we not put weirs para sa flood control?

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: Things that we probably we’ll have to do, Mr. President. Yes, the weirs are very effective in slowing down actually the flow…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oo, slowing down the flow.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: The flow of the floodwaters actually coming down, especially in steep areas.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: It’s usually used, for example if there is a fishing ground para magkaroon ng lake — ng maliit para mayroong palaisdaan, oo.

But, kontrolado niya ‘yung tubig. Pag baha, isasara mo lahat, mag-a-ano siya, pero magri-release-release ka para hindi mag-overflow, para hindi out of control.

And it’s… Everywhere else that I see — I’ve seen it in many, many, many places and it seems to be very effective. It’s an old, old ancient technology. I don’t know why we don’t use weirs. We should incorporate that into our designs, palagay ko sa flood control.

Pag-aralan nga natin kung sino pa ang pinakamagaling na gumamit ng weir. Mga European, for the last millennium, they’ve been using weirs already. Alam na nila ‘yan kung… Maybe the Dutch will know kasi sila ang pinakamagaling sa water management.

I’ve seen it in every country in Europe. I’ve seen it in Germany. I’ve seen it in England. I’ve seen it in France. I’ve seen it everywhere and it seems to calm the waters down. Kahit mataas, mabilis ang pasok. Dito puwede, dito sa baba, downstream — downstream of the weir talagang kontrolado ‘yung flow na hindi maging ano — maging flashflood.

Yeah, weirs. Let’s really look into that properly, the technology, how to use it because I know it’s effective.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: Yes, Mr. President, it’s actually [off-mic] adaptable solution.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Very adaptable sa atin ‘yan because I keep — I bring it up because of what I saw in the video, ang bilis ng tubig. Kung hindi ganon kabilis ‘yung tubig, it wouldn’t — then ‘yung fatalities natin first, baka ‘yung ilan doon hindi na nalunod.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: Sabo Dam kasi, Mr. President ngayon ‘yung — mga Sabo Dam ‘yung nilalagay…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Imbes… Oo, which is okay. Well, Sabo Dam is okay but downstream, downstream, we can use the…

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: Downstream, we still have to put the weirs.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Kasi pag mag-release ang dam dahil mag-overflow na, pagbaba ng tubig, dahan-dahan ang pagpasok, hindi ‘yung biglaan.

So, that’s something that I’m quite surprised considering the problems that we have with flood control, this is a technique that is very effective when it comes to flood control.

All right. Okay. Do you have more? Wait, tapos na ba tayo with the Governor’s report?

GOV. YNARES: [off-mic] earlier we had problems for quite some time with some housing issues. But, as of this morning, it has already been addressed by NHA. So, we already got to talk to NHA and it could be addressed.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. Let’s move to DENR because I think you have something to present.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Thank you, Mr. President. I will request Undersecretary Carlos David to make this presentation. This is analysis that was done based on satellite imagery and some of [unclear] that was done to verify. So, this is very quick but intensive analysis of the flood dynamics in the area just for quick appreciation.

DENR UNDERSECRETARY CARLOS DAVID: Good morning, Mr. President and everybody.

We wanted to offer a different strategy for flood mitigation not only for Marikina and Rizal but for the rest of the country. I think, it has to be an integrated approach combining structural controls which includes the DPWH infrastructure that we are planning, the ecological integrity of our watersheds which sometimes is left behind as our primary flood control mitigation strategy, and as well as community planning as you will see in Rizal and in Marikina, community planning is essential as well in terms of flood control.

I just wanted to show this slide. We often look at the flooding as an issue of the Upper Marikina Watershed which is the one in pink and that covers 26,100 hectares. Note however that the whole catchment of the Marikina River is 69,000 hectares and majority, 60 percent of the area is outside of the Upper Marikina protected area. The 43,700 covers Rodriguez, San Mateo, Cainta, Antipolo all the way down to Marikina and if we only focus our efforts in the 26,100, then I don’t think we will solve the flooding downstream. And therefore, the cooperation of the LGUs within the 43,700, mostly Rizal, is crucial in mitigating the floods.

The urban sprawl which is in red has increased. Obviously for Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig and all the way down — this is already very dense housing and we are seeing urbanization as well as the LGUs upstream also developed.

This contributes to flooding simply because the amount of rainfall that falls in the area will no longer infiltrate the ground but is converted into floodwaters or runoff when everything is now paved. And therefore, in terms of land use planning, there are small interventions that we can do in order for us to have our surface still permeable even if it is still urbanized ‘no. So, these are some of the strategies that we can take with the LGU of Rizal.

For the Upper Marikina Watershed, Sec. Toni mentioned our plan — quite bold is to plant three million trees in the next four years and this will significantly increase our forest cover in the Upper Marikina Watershed.

The budget that we require for this is 160 million but with our partnerships with DPWH and the private sector and the LGUs of — within Rizal, I think the budget will be much, much smaller and we can do this much faster than four years.

This is the typical situation in the Upper Marikina Watershed. By far, the biggest conversion of our forest land is not because of deforestation but because of conversion into agricultural areas — plantations, mango plantations, and also rice paddies.

And you will see in this picture here, there is still some intact forest on the right side but you now see encroachment of rice paddies on the left side and also conversion of that forest land to mango plantations on the upper righthand corner.

This is a tricky situation because obviously, our communities require a viable livelihood in the area and this is the reason why they are converting the land. But in the process, we are losing our forest cover which contributes to increased runoff and flooding downstream.

Our efforts are reforestation. We have targeted where we need to reforest and these are targeted areas that will maximize the forest cover that we have. We want to do a lot more work with the DPWH in terms of river restoration and promotion of water impoundment structures.

Now this is a picture of the upper Wawa Dam on September 4, 2024. It does contribute a lot in terms of holding back flood waters that will — in the past would go down San Mateo and Marikina. And I believe that there are projects already in the pipeline to include more impoundment structures above this and also below.

I think the old Wawa Dam, although it is small, if we dredge it and increase its height will still contribute to mitigating floods downstream.

This is in San Mateo, Rizal, and you can see the urban sprawl already encroaching upon the both banks of the Marikina River. Previously, before these dwellings were there, the river was allowed to spread out, it spreads out.

But now, because we have these structures, we will have to protect the houses there, there are dikes on both sides. What happens is that the water that’s coming from upstream is now constricted onto the just the river itself and the net effect of that is that it increases the velocity of the water in the river because you constrict it. It’s like pinching your garden hose essentially and not allowing it to spread out and the entire volume of the water that’s coming down from upstream no longer spreads upstream but is now directed its full force downstream. And therefore, this contributes to faster floods and bigger volume floods in downstream communities.

Finally, there are some work to be done by the DENR as well. What you’re seeing here, those brown patches there are in the upper Marikina watershed, these are kaingin that’s happening in upper Marikina watershed.

And this is the first step towards its conversion into agricultural lands. And so, the monitoring surveillance and enforcement arm of the DENR has to be intensified. They have to be more proactive using new technologies in order for us to curb these kinds of activities.

Finally, this is a diagram that was drawn by one of our land use planners, Architect Paulo Alcazaren, and it simply illustrates what has happened in the past 20, 30 years.

In the past, we had the environment intact and therefore, the amount of rain, even with extreme rain events, will not necessarily go down to the communities because they are held back and they infiltrate into the ground.

Fast forward to today, we have built up many of these areas already, and the infiltration of rainfall does not happen as much anymore and everything is converted into flooding.

So, proper land use planning, restoration of our ecological integrity, and the combination of structures that DPWH has planned, well, I think solved the flooding issues in the area. Maraming salamat po.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: If I may, just to say that our collaboration and cooperation with the province and the different municipalities, all the way down to the barangay level is actually ongoing already. It has been going on for some time.

And we have also signed with the DPWH an MOA on targeted tree planting in the flood control investments that the DPWH is making so that we can actually pool our resources in order to achieve the impacts that we want.

So, our cooperation with the local governments plus the different departments is actually ongoing already. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. Thank you. So, these are the conditions that we have to deal.

If you look at this drawing, population 300,000. Nasa 12 million na tayo ngayon. So, you can see the enormous difference of what the terrain is having to deal with. Whereas there was a forest cover on the uphill areas. That’s all gone because tinayuan na ng bahay.

So, we will, you know, it’s not as if you can send the people away. We have to adjust around the population. All right. Thank you for the quick overview from DENR.

Now, we move to the briefing from the DILG. You will brief us on Indonesia or you will brief us on…? [laughter] You can do both, actually. All right. Unahin na natin ‘yung bagyo. Okay, DILG, please.

DILG SECRETARY BENJAMIN ABALOS JR.: Good morning, Mr. President and the Cabinet and the officials of Rizal.

Sir, mamaya na ‘yung sa Jakarta. Okay. Well, nasabi na po lahat ni Governor Ricci. It’s just that as per our list: There are 5,973 families or 10,888 individuals that are still in 112 evacuation centers as of 6 AM this morning. And we’ve got the hardest hit, the hardest hit are as compiled, is Morong, Teresa, Cainta, Rodriguez, and San Mateo, sir.

So, inano ko… I think this is also in conformity with the list. It’s [unclear] with the list of the LGU, sir. So, we compiled this, and I would say that all of the local chief executives really exerted their efforts [unclear] one hundred percent are all present in the area of responsibility in the province of Rizal and they’re there during the typhoon, all of them, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Thank you. This, especially this chart, you have, of course the — I assume, am I correct in assuming that DSWD has that so that you can properly respond to, itong needs.

DSWD SECRETARY REX GATCHALIAN: Yes, Mr. President. Actually, the next slide — pag time ko na, we can go through the Rizal…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Sige, let’s do that. All right. Let’s go to the DSWD’s responses.

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Mr. President, as always, we focus on the family food packs.

Mr. President, from the last time we met two days ago. That time was 133,000 released food packs. Now, we’re up to 265,104 nationwide, of which in CALABARZON, one of the hardest hit areas, 41,961.

We are still processing another 200,000 as we speak, so ‘yung initial na nasabi ko sa inyo na I think it will play at around 250 to 300. Hindi ho, it keeps on going up kasi there are still flooded areas understandably. We’ll probably close at around half a million family food packs for Enteng alone.

Mr. President, for CALABARZON, we’ve released, as mentioned, 41,961 family food packs of which a greater chunk went to Rizal, 28,100.

That’s spread across the different levers of government, some to the province, some to the municipalities. So, we’re already doing 28,100, and we’re still processing requests as we speak right now, Mr. President.

We have that list ni Secretary Abalos. We get it also from the OCD, the hardest hit areas and we’ve been coordinating with the province and the congressional representatives as to where we need to deploy more family food packs.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, we can anticipate already. I think by now, what is going to be required for the effect to alleviate the condition from Enteng. So, do we have that estimate, more or less?

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: For Enteng, Mr. President?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: For Enteng.

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Yes, Mr. President. For family food packs, half a million, 500,000 nationwide. We’re halfway through.

Nag-slowdown na ho ‘yung pasok ng requests. So, we’ll be able to process everything by end of this week. Lahat ho ‘yun fully deployed na. Then, we start stockpiling for the next two storms coming in.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Speaking of which, there is a threatening weather structure that is approaching the Philippines again. So, we have to… Hindi na nga — it’s also almost impossible now for us to say what will Enteng cost us in terms of food packs, non-food items, et cetera and all of the assistances that we will give people who have been displaced, all of those things.

Because we don’t know when Enteng — when we will… I don’t think we will have finished doing the effects of — trying to alleviate the effects of Enteng before this other storm comes in.

Do we have — maybe DENR can give us an indication. Do we have… What is the possibility or what is the likelihood rather of this new weather structure? Do we have somebody from PAGASA here?

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Sir, DOST here.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Ayan. Oh, you’re here. All right. I didn’t see you. Sige, anong tinitingnan natin dito sa bagong papasok na sa PAR?

OCD ASSISTANT SECRETARY HERNANDO CARAIG JR.: Good morning, Mr. President, sir and to all Cabinet Secretaries present, and to the local chief executives. Sir, as of the report of PAGASA yesterday, the developing tropical cyclone are not yet cleared when it will be developed into a tropical cyclone, sir.

Right now, they are looking into three possible tropical cyclones but two of them are on the northern part of the country, while one of — the third one is I think it’s in the eastern part of Visayas and Mindanao area.

But according to PAGASA, sir, this will be determined within the month of September. So, they will be issuing forecast once they determine the accurate information about this possible tropical cyclone, sir.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Mr. President if I may?

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Yes. Go, please, Sec. Toni.

DENR SEC. LOYZAGA: Perhaps just to possibly also broaden the picture because the tropical cyclones are one element but the southwest monsoon is really another.

And what happens, there are enhancements possible for the southwest monsoon even if the tropical cyclone, it doesn’t even enter our area of responsibility.

So perhaps, if we could have a larger forecast picture because you can see the water vapor actually moving across towards us from the southwest monsoon.

And so if we may suggest to DOST-PAGASA, they could give us a broader picture of what can be anticipated by way of rainfall from other systems rather than just the tropical cyclone.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Well, anyway, you know, it’s becoming more and more, despite all of our new technologies and sources of data, it’s actually still continuing to get harder and harder to forecast properly. Only because the one thing that at least I’ve noticed as a public administrator is that the typhoons developed much more quickly whereas before it would take three days to develop into a major typhoon.

Naalala ko noong bata kami siyempre inaasahan namin mag-typhoon number two para walang pasok ‘di ba. Pero pag malapit na at typhoon number one pa lang, hindi na mag-typhoon two ‘yan.

Ngayon, malapit na, typhoon one — typhoon signal number one, within 24 hours, it’s typhoon signal number four. Iyong unang nangyaring ganyan ‘yung Yolanda. Hindi natin akalain na ganon kalakas. Noong dumating ang lakas-lakas pala. And then Odette, the same thing. Ito ring Carina, lahat — iba.

Hindi kagaya ng dati na very predictable. Sige, alam na natin kung saan dadaan. Alam na natin kung sino ‘yung mga probinsiya. The standard pattern before was papasok ng Bicol lalabas doon sa amin sa Northern Luzon, not anymore. Umurong na talaga, pati Mindanao binabagyo na.

Okay. Anyway. So, can you carry on with the…

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Mr. President, that was my last slide. Tama ho kayo. Hindi na natin malalaman ’yung ending noong Enteng response sa incoming storms.

But based on your last instructions, we’re both doing the response and the stockpiling and the procuring all at the same time now, sabay-sabay na sila.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Yeah. What the Secretary is referring to is because when after Carina, naubos ang lahat ng ating stockpile.

At the end of the Carina effort response, walang laman ‘yung warehouse namin. Naubos talaga. So, we had to resupply ourselves para naman ito pero kung may parating pa, we have to again be ready.

So, mabuti naman ‘yung mga private sector partners natin very ano — they are very supportive sa ating mga ginagawa at kapag emergency tinutulungan tayo kaagad.

So, it’s all right. We’ll be all right. But this is how severe the problem is, is that all our planning and our modelling turns out that we have to do much more than what we expected and it hits us harder than we expected because the volume of the water, sumabay ang habagat, the last one Carina sinabayan ng hightide. All of the elements that contributed to becoming a very serious problem.

I hope the next one… Mukhang mas mahina naman ‘yung… So far, it is not a storm. Is it a storm already? Iyong weather system na papasok? Nasa atin na ba? Is it already in the — our area of responsibility?

OCD ASEC. CARAIG: Not yet, sir. It’s only a cyclone formation only, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  How far away is it?

OCD ASEC. CARAIG: It’s still outside of the…

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  How fast is it moving?

OCD ASEC. CARAIG: I’m sorry, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oh, sige. We have to learn all of those things. I’m sure you have the data, you just have to look it up.

We have to learn all of those things para malaman natin when it will hit, at what strength. Just to give us an idea of what we are going to have to face so we can warn the local governments, we can warn households and tell them to evacuate or at least prepare themselves so that we are continuing to provide whatever it is that they need.

Here in Rizal, specifically, do you have figures? How many people are still in… You know what, ganito na lang, effects of Carina, ilan pang tao na nasa evacuation center ngayon?

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: That part of the presentation is with the OCD kasi the other day inulit namin.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Okay. Let’s go. Okay. Let’s do that. [Ito, nationwide ito.]

OCD ASEC. CARAIG: As to the effects, sir, right now, there are already 565,659 families, sir, comprising 2.162 million persons affected and these are… Those staying inside evacuation centers are 14,900 families with 59,469 persons, while 3,567 families with 13,415 persons are outside evacuation centers.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  All right. So, we are still — we are of course, still providing food packs and non-food items.

But we’re getting to the point kasi at some point dito sa pag may bagyo, we always arrive at the point where humihingi na talaga ng cash kasi they have their own needs. There’s a baby, they have to buy baby food, they have — iba-iba. So, hindi na kaya doon sa food pack. So, how are we…?

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Mr. President, that will commence by next week.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Next week..

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Ngayon kasi nandon pa sila sa family food pack request and then we’re starting to get na the cash payouts schedules for next week in the affected area. So, that’s also taken cared of, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Kayo na lang ang magbigay sa amin kung ano ‘yung requirement. Kasi it’s going to be AICS already. It’s going to be assistance na cash na.

GOV. YNARES: Opo. Thank you po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Kasi ‘yun na nga, in after a while, may pangangailangan sila na specific doon sa pamilya nila. So, hindi na nakukuha sa just the food pack.

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Sir, we’ll be ready with that in the department.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah. All right. Okay. All right. Yeah, I know because we just did… We had to ano — a supplementary budget for DSWD because September pa lang ubos na tayo.

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: August pa. Oo, August pa. August natin nag-ano. Well, whatever it is. It’s the weather, with the people are getting into — are having a tough time and nabibiktima. So, there’s nothing else we have to do. We just have to provide them that assistance.

Is the water — what is the condition? Baha pa ba ‘yung mga ibang lugar? Mga Morong, mga — hindi na?

GOV. YNARES: Wala na po. Bumaba na po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Hindi na? Nawala na ‘yung tubig?

GOV. YNARES: Just like our briefing noong sa San Mateo, mabilis tumaas, mabilis bumaba. Mabilis lang umandar din.

PRESIDENT MARCOS:  Pagka mabilis bumaba, ibig sabihin marami lang talaga ‘yung tubig. It was just — there’s just so much water.

Kasi may dinadaanan. Buti noon kung sasabihin na nakaharang, hindi makalabas ‘yung tubig, hindi naman. Nakakalabas kaagad ‘yung tubig pero ‘yung dinadaanan niya napupuno kasi sa dami ng tubig. That’s really what’s happening there.

Everyone complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it. There’s nothing we can do. It’s the weather. All right. Okay.

So, I think, DSWD is set-up. The LGUs are already aware of all of the things that we are doing. Is there anything else that we haven’t covered specifically for the province of Rizal?

GOV. YNARES: Mr. President, since Antipolo is the one that’s hardest hit for this storm. May I ask my older brother, Mayor Jun to… Please.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Mayor.

ANTIPOLO CITY MAYOR JUN YNARES: Thank you, Ate. Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, everyone.

Mr. President, last night, I happened to watch the news on TV Patrol. And Usec. David was interviewed and we’re very thankful after hearing what DENR has in store and maybe the DPWH also to address the possible solutions to the issue at hand, particularly flooding.

I’d like to also report that we have similar interventions, engineering and otherwise.

But, to be honest, Mr. President, bulag po kami dito sa LGU. We know it’s a confluence of a lot of factors that contribute to flooding as mentioned earlier.

But, like Usec. David mentioned last night, because right now, there’s outrage from the public at sinisisi po ‘yung mining activities.

And according to Usec. David, it’s unfair to blame the mining sector because one percent of Marikina watershed, only one percent is being mined.

So, it would be — to quote, Usec. David, it would be foolish to blame mining for the flooding. But just the same, it contributes, whether it’s two percent based on the MGB report in 2009.

The fact remains. Sa dami po ng rason, hindi po namin alam which contributes the most. Is it mining? Is it urbanization? Is it deforestation? Is it siltation? Is it bad land use planning or implementation?

So, right now, we are in the process of commissioning UP Diliman to conduct a study. But you would be saving us a lot of money, if the national government has a study identifying which contributes the most to flooding. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yes, that’s not a simple question.

When I flew yesterday, the other day, kitang-kita ko ‘yung mga mining operation. Hindi naman nag-landslide.

Akala ko, sabi ko, ito kasi wala ng kahoy. Sabi ko, ito baka dito, baka dito. It was — lupa ang nakikita ko. Tapos may mga truck. They were like about five of them that we flew over. And I looked downstream from them, mukha naman — quarrying, mostly quarrying ang ginagawa nila. Hindi naman yata naapektuhan.

So, I don’t know if that’s… Because I guess, when you look around, the only areas with bare soil are the landslide and the mining areas. So, sinasabi siguro, kaya gumuho ‘yan, dahil… I don’t know, we’ll have to — we’ll really have to look at it.

But the one that was featured in the news, ‘yung nag-landslide. Wala namang malapit na mina doon.

So, I think, it is just because these are new conditions. Because marami akong nakita na flood control na nasira. That’s why the first slides that you showed, flood control na nawasak. Doon ko nauna naisip, ang lakas ng tubig, ang bigat ng tubig, pati ‘yung flood control sinira niya.

So, it’s just we have to do the upstream water management. Because what we have been — what the conclusions that we have come to is that hindi mo mapipigilan na mag-populate ang NCR. Well, wala kang magagawa. Pati may mga problema  nga, ‘yung nagtatapon ng basura. ‘Yun na nga, what we mentioned earlier, natatabunan ‘yung mga spillway, all of these things.

So, we can of course improve that. But in the end, it will happen again, because like I said, mabilis namang bumaba, ibig sabihin may pinagdadaanan ‘yung tubig, pero masyadong marami ‘yung tubig.

So, ang iniisip namin ‘yung impounding sa upstream. Huwag mo nang pababain ‘yung tubig. Kunin mo na habang malayo pa, habang nasa taas pa, gamitin mo ‘yan pag tag-araw, mayroon kang pang-irrigation, mayroon kang pang ano — lagyan mo pa ng solar kung gusto mo.

All of these things are available, so that’s what we are trying to do now is to try and control the water that goes into the city and that will help us in the water management in general.

And when I talk about water management, what we are talking about is already water for household use, water for irrigation, agricultural irrigation, water for industrial use, and all of the other possibilities as I said, even for energy kung may hydro possibility, may solar possibility. All of these things, we put it — tapos nilalagyan pa natin ng isda para puwedeng ano, puwedeng gamitin as a fish pond.

So, all of these things are what we are trying to put together now. But it is a big project and it does — ‘yung tubig hindi nangingilala ng boundary. Kaya it has to be not just one province, not just one region, kung hindi ‘yung buong…

Ito dito sa — kung pag-uusapan mo ang NCR, buong Luzon kailangan mong tingnan and the upstream area where you can dig big impounding projects, so that the water that was supposed to go into the city will no longer do that and we can control when there’s water supply needed, then magbibitaw tayo ng tubig. Pag tag-araw ‘di ba, mag-aano tayo ng tubig.

So, that is now our strategy for the long term. But in the short term, we just have to adjust. We will try to do our best in terms of controlling the levels of water that come in using all of these other strategies with dams, with small dams, with impounding areas, with… But they all have to follow a overall plan because it’s understandable that if you are in the province and you’ll say, dito tayo maglagay ng flood control, dahil laging nababaha dito. Sometimes the situation is that.

Hindi naman diyan ang problema, ‘yung problema dito, kaya kailangan doon natin ilagay ‘yung flood control. So, that has to — that’s why we have to coordinate very closely with the LGUs.

On the same time, the LGUs, the locals, the local farmers, the local fishermen, they know better than anybody, the detailed evolution of where dumadaan ‘yung tubig dati, ngayon nalipat na rito, ganon kataas, et cetera, et cetera.

So, that coordination has to be very close. Because like I said, there’s nothing like local information. And you know, farmers and fishermen, they have an intimate knowledge of the natural phenomena.

All right. Okay. Is there anything else? Oh, Cong Jack.

RIZAL REP. JACK DUAVIT: Mr. President, first of all, I’d like to thank you and the department. Kami po naman sa lower area po ng Rizal, what has been within our control is to really shorten the recovery time and to mitigate the economic losses. With your help, we’ve been able to bring down the flooding from periods of days to now some areas only hours.

Now, there’s an area po of clarification that we would like to seek because there is one program po, which is one of the floodgates along Cainta River na because of the pandemic na kailangan po naibalik po ‘yung pondo para doon because there was a moratorium during that pandemic for the — on the relocation.

Kasi to able to construct for the floodgates and as well as the pumping station, there were areas that had to be relocated and because po of the moratorium hindi po natuloy ‘yun, nabalik po ‘yung pondo.

So, we just like to seek po clarification on that policy. If it is all right again to be able to of course —- humanely and legally relocate this people para po matuloy ‘yung programang ‘yan.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Sec, are you aware of this proposed na hindi na —  natamaan ng moratorium?

DPWH SEC BONOAN: I just talked to the good congressman earlier, Mr. President. I think we can do it again and revive the facility.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. Oo, ituloy na natin ‘yan.

REP. DUAVIT: We’d also like to thank you po because the road dike which is actually a C6 radial is already ongoing and that is GAA funded and that naman protects the coastal towns of Taytay all the way — will protect Taytay up to Binangonan from storm surges, for exiting typhoons in the future.

So, again, Mr. President, we have been — ang nagawang strategy po namin, because we started our flood mitigation program as early as 2001, pero noong tumama po ‘yung Ondoy sa amin, the strategy we took was to start from down going up. We started our drainage as close to sea level as possible tripping upwards, kasi po knowingly, kung nag-umpisa sa taas, kung nag-flood, kakalat lang sa baba.

And we’ve been successful. These are some of the last few pieces na lang po as far as the mitigation is concerned. And then we’re hoping in the — actually we’re pretty sure that by 2028 tapos na po lahat ito. Thank you po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oo, as soon as we can. We don’t… This is not going to change anytime soon and for the better, hindi na… The term new normal is absolutely correct because it’s  not… We’re not going back to the weather patterns of 10 years ago.  It’s just not going to happen and that’s why we have to be aware of what’s going on in the — in the forecasting, the meteorology that we are looking for despite the fact that as I said is becoming more difficult.

Okay. Is there any other matters to — relevant to this issue that we have to discuss?

All right. Okay. So, DSWD, you carry on doing — you know what to do. You have — unfortunately, we are unfortunately all too familiar with the situation. The DILG okay, the LGUs, please continue the coordination between the national agencies and the LGUs with DENR, with the Public Works para ‘yung ating ginagawa ay — like if there are specific concerns that we can address them as quickly as possible.

Because if there’s specific concern, it usually means that there is an area or there is a group of people or a barangay or two barangays that have not received any assistance at all.

So, we’ll have to do something special for them. Do we still have those barangays that hanggang ngayon ‘di pa natin naabot? Wala na, lahat na napasok na natin. Okay. So, that’s another — that’s one less concern for us.

Okay. Thank you all very much. Thank you. We are adjourned. Thank you, Gov.

 

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