Marcos Jr. prods regional officials to find evacuation strategies

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday implored relevant agencies to ensure that areas and persons at risk follow evacuation calls and orders in times of disasters.

Marcos made the call in the wake of Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (International name: Nalgae) that hit the region almost two weeks ago.

Marcos Jr. met with provincial and regional officials at the Antique Provincial Capitol in San Jose de Buenavista town, which was heavily hit by Paeng.

He also personally distributed food packs provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

During the meeting, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Western Visayas Assistant Regional Director Maria Calpiza Sardua, reported that the 36 typhoon-related deaths were mostly due to flood-related incidences.

These incidences, according to Sardua, included drowning, sweeping by strong current of water, flashflood, landslide, hypothermia, cardiac arrest, difficulty of breathing, and electrocution.

The total Paeng-related deaths as of Monday, Nov 7, included 13 in Antique, 8 each in Capiz and Iloilo province, and 7 in Aklan. Six people remain missing in the region.

Sardua assured that local government units (LGUs) were informed of the agency’s Operation LISTO, their advocacy campaign for localized disaster preparedness protocols.

But she admitted that the public, including LGU officials, were not expecting the strength of STS Paeng when it hit the last week of October.

“The [exact] number of [persons] pre-emptively evacuated during [Paeng] could be answered by our local chief executives. Paeng wasn’t expected to be that strong, so those who died and are missing, this was an effect of surprise among the people. Any amount of preparation [was not enough] for us to be surprised by Paeng,” said Sardua.

The President pressed that pre-emptive evacuation would have avoided or mitigated the 36 typhoon-related deaths.

“Pre-emptive evacuation is always a good idea. If you take the people out of the area of danger, then you’re way ahead. Even if there is property damage, which we cannot do anything about anyway, at least people wouldn’t be pulled by the water or even get a heart attack,” Marcos said.

Sardua, DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., and Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao told the president that while the local government units did conduct pre-emptive evacuation and provide pre-disaster information to the people, there were still some who did not evacuate and even returned to their homes while Paeng was ravaging their area.

Marcos Jr., however, urged the DILG, the local government units, and other officials to push for more strategies to get people out of their homes before the disaster strikes.

“It’s really hard to evacuate people, but you have to do it, even if they get a little bit angry. You just have to do it. There were drowning, flashfloods, and landslides, and if they weren’t [at their homes] this wouldn’t have happened. They wouldn’t have been caught,” the president stressed.

“Everywhere you go, evacuation is a problem. People don’t want to leave their homes. You cannot blame them. They chase after their cows, and that’s actually expensive. They can’t leave their homes. It’s very natural. The last 10 percent do not want to leave, but you have to find a way to convince them, or whatever, to bring them to the evacuation center,” he added.

The president said that the agencies have to stick to their routine procedures of pre-emptive evacuation and forward placement of relief goods and water supply.

It was also reported during the meeting that damages caused by Paeng amounted to P1.775 billion in agriculture and P1.777 billion in infrastructure.

DSWD-6 data as of Nov 6 likewise logged 1.55 million persons and 405,772 families affected in 2,570 barangays in the region.