DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao (MindaNews / 1 Nov) – “Lahat ng mga gumuho, kalbo ang bundok, and that’s the problem,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said after visiting Tuesday the devastated areas in the province, the worst hit with the onslaught of Typhoon “Paeng,” recording more than half of the country’s 110 fatality count.
President Marcos made an aerial ocular inspection at the badly hit landslide area in Kusiong at the foot of Mt. Minandar in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
“We have to include tree planting in our flood control programs,” the President said.
“Talagang may climate change,” Marcos acknowledged.
He told regional and provincial officials “to study the pre-positioning of our equipment and adjust,” noting that typhoons rapidly intensify in a matter of hours. Citing the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the President said that four typhoons are still expected before the year ends.
Another issue the President pointed out is the lack of coordination between the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the provincial government of Maguindanao.
“You need to join forces and maximize your resources” to improve relief operations, he told them.
Marcos said he wanted to have the military involved to help facilitate coordination between the regional and provincial governments.
He told social welfare workers to hasten relief efforts and to get rid of what he called as bureaucratic “coupon” system.
“Wag na natin masyadong intindihin ’yung bureaucracy. Basta iparating na natin ang relief. Eh ano kung magdoble-doble? … Alam mo naghihingalo ’yung tao. Life and death ito sa kanila,” he stressed.
The President reminded his subordinates that “there is no such thing as sobra na relief.”
“Kung ano yung meron tayo ibigay natin kaagad, and it doesnt matter kung may papel. ’Wag na ninyong papirmahin. Walang kakainin ang mga ’yan,” he said.
President Marcos visited more than 900 displaced individuals staying at the Broce Central Elementary School.
He initiated the ceremonial assistance of P10,000 from the national government to help survivors rebuild their houses.
The death toll in Maguindanao climbed to 61 as of Monday morning, according to a briefing made by Maguindanao del Sur Governor Mariam Mangudadatu.
The Bangsamoro government, in a briefing by BARMM Minister of Interior and Local Government Naguib Sinarimbo, reported around 568,969 affected persons or around 217,719 families from 442 barangays all over the region.
Aside from the landslides in Maguindanao, storm surge was also monitored in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.
Among key issues raised in the status of lifelines in the region are the damaged roads and bridges.
Marcos asked government planners to study the region’s flood-control infrastructure network and river systems.
He said he saw substandard dikes, described as “marupok,” of which some were made only of a single layer of hollow blocks.
Maj. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division who is also the incident commander of the retrieval and relief operations at Barangay Kusiong, briefed President Marcos that based on information gathered from the locals in the area, only four persons remain missing.
“We have retrieved 21 cadavers and we are only looking for four more based on the accounts of local residents and leaders,” Galido said.
But what worries 60-year-old Daisy Ferring, who lost a one year-old granddaughter and managed to survived the landslide with bruises and wounds all over her body and face, is where to stay after they will leave the school in Datu Odin Sinsuat town as face-to-face classes have resumed.
“Saan kami uuwi kung paalisin na kami dito?” she lamented. Ferring said they are asking President Marcos to provide them with housing in a safe area.
Ferring, who belongs to the Teduray tribe, used to stay at a coastal area of Kusiong. But two years ago they were advised by the local government to be relocated at Sitio Tinabon where the landslide happened. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)
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