{"id":275518,"date":"2020-11-15T08:16:30","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T13:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=275518"},"modified":"2020-11-15T08:16:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T13:16:30","slug":"prrd-defends-lgus-on-ulysses-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/15\/prrd-defends-lgus-on-ulysses-response\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD defends LGUs on \u2018Ulysses\u2019 response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte presides over a situation briefing with the members of his Cabinet and local government officials at the Tuguegarao Airport in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan on November 15, 2020 to discuss the disaster response measures and relief efforts on the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses. ARCEL VALDERRAMA\/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday rejected criticisms that death and destruction experienced during Cagayan Valley\u2019s worst flood in 40 years was the result of negligence of local government units (LGUs).<\/p>\n

In an ambush interview, Duterte defended LGUs\u2019 response to Typhoon Ulysses saying they have been prepared long before the typhoon made its landfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t believe in that. That\u2019s garbage.\u00a0Alam mo<\/em>\u00a0(You know), the one in-charge\u00a0sa mga yung<\/em>\u00a0(of) preparations for emergency, long before\u00a0dumating yung typhoon naka-deploy na ang mga tao dito<\/em>\u00a0(the typhoon arrived, they were already deployed here),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Contrary to what critics say, Duterte said LGUs have been quick in responding to the needs of typhoon-hit victims, but also had to keep track of their spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go right away and spend money, you land there with the Ombudsman. So, give them time to make the proper assessment.\u00a0Saan ang bagal dito? Nandyan ang pagkain, the housing nandiyan<\/em>\u00a0(How are they slow? The food is there, housing is there), they are ready to implement,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also defended the decision to release water from Magat Dam which flowed toward Cagayan, causing the flood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to release it otherwise we\u2019ll have a catastrophe kaya you have to release. Every dam in this world pagkapuno na yung tubig ire-release talaga yan, otherwise magkalat yan pag nasira<\/em>\u00a0(if it\u2019s full of water, you have to release, otherwise it will be a mess when it\u2019s destroyed), you will have, as I said, a catastrophe)\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if a proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) could have prevented the extent of damage brought about by successive typhoons, Duterte did not give a clear answer.<\/p>\n

He said Congress is resisting the creation of a separate department to streamline government humanitarian response to disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having a resistance. Sa Congress mismo.\u00a0May iba doble na daw, a duplication of work, tama na daw yang isa<\/em>\u00a0(In Congress itself. They say there\u2019s duplication of work, that it\u2019s enough to have one),\u201d he said, referring to the existing National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).<\/p>\n

Duterte, however, noted that the government could still respond to calamities as long as there are enough funds allocated.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa akin, okay lang (For me, it\u2019s okay), I can do it in the meantime na maski yan lang (with just that). What is important is that you have the machineries, and you have the equipment, and you have the money, and people are there deployed before the typhoon comes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte has been calling on Congress to pass legislation creating the DDR in his previous state of the nation addresses.<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives approved its version of the DDR bill last September, while similar measures remain pending in the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday rejected criticisms that death and destruction experienced during Cagayan Valley\u2019s worst flood in 40 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":275519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275520,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275518\/revisions\/275520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}