Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) – The provincial government of Albay asserted that official data regarding Mayon operations would only come from the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO).
“Dapat kami ang nasusunod, yung datos dapat ng APSEMO ang dapat nilang sundin, hindi nila dapat pinangungunahan ‘yung mga nasa ground,” Albay Governor Edcel Greco Lagman told a press briefing on Monday.
[Translation: We should be the one to be followed, data from the APSEMO should be followed. They should not preempt the people on the ground.]
The governor’s statement came after conflicting reports from several government agencies as to the number of families and individuals affected by Mayon Volcano’s eruption.
Lagman, who also chairs the Albay Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), said he will coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) regarding the data being made available to the public.
He added that he will also make sure that the concern will reach newly appointed Department of National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.
APSEMO officer-in-charge Eugene Escobar, meanwhile, said the evacuation report they’re releasing are consolidated reports from the different local government units in Albay.
RELATED: Albay gov hits 2 mayors for evacuation outside Mayon’s 6-km danger zone
As of June 19, the APSEMO logged a total of 19,956 evacuees from the seven municipalities of Albay: Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Tabaco City, Malilipot, Santo Domingo, and Ligao City.
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