Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 15) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said there is a pushback from Congress regarding the establishment of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience.
Speaking to reporters after a briefing with government officials in Legazpi City, Albay, the President said the lawmakers have concerns about the duplication of tasks now being performed by other government agencies.
“We’re having a resistance. Sa Congress mismo. May iba…doble na daw, a duplication of work. Tama na daw ‘yung isa,” Duterte said in the area hit hard by Super Typhoon Rolly two weeks ago.
[Translation: We’re having a resistance. In Congress itself. There are those who say there will be a duplication of work. They say one is enough.]
The President said he found no problem with it.
“Sa akin ok lang [That’s fine with me], I can do it in the meantime na maski iyan lang [even with just one]. What is important is that we have the machineries and the equipment, and you have the money and people are there, deployed before the typhoon comes,” he told reporters in an ambush interview.
The President went to Cagayan and Legazpi City on Sunday to assess the situation and conduct a survey on the extensive damage wrought by Typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco).
During both visits, he spoke with government officials about measures being done to help those severely affected by the typhoon.
To date, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 69 people from six regions have died due to strong winds and massive flooding spawned by Ulysses.
NDRRMC executive director Ricardo Jalad said the fatalities were confirmed in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Bicol Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, and National Capital Region. Only the Ilocos Region did not have any reported casualty among the regions in the typhoon’s path.
The agency estimated the agricultural and infrastructure damage due to Ulysses at ₱1.19 billion and ₱469.7 million, respectively.
