MANILA – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday lauded local government units (LGUs) for their quick and efficient preemptive evacuation of residents at the height of Super Typhoon Pepito, resulting in just two confirmed casualties as of posting time.
Pepito (international name: Man-yi) was downgraded to severe tropical storm before noontime and was already outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility as of the 5 p.m. bulletin.
“Dito sa limang sunod na bagyo, halos wala po tayong casualty as compared to Kristine (In the five consecutive tropical cyclones, we have almost no casualties compared to Kristine),” Remulla said during an interview aired over People’s Television (PTV).
“Sa tingin ko, ito na ‘yung pinakamagandang response ever sa history ng Pilipinas (I think this is the best response ever in the history of the Philippines),” he added.
After Kristine, the country was hit by Leon, Marce, Nika and Ofel just days apart from each other.
He said LGUs in the affected areas closely monitored the situation on the ground and oversaw the disaster management efforts in their localities.
“Napakalaking bagay ng bahagi ng local governments dito. Sila talaga ‘yung siyang nanguna, sila talaga ‘yung first responders, sila ang nanguna sa trabaho para sa evacuation. Sila naglagay sa mga (The role of local governments is very important here. They were really the ones who took the lead, they were really the first responders, they were the ones who led the work for the evacuation. They put in the) relief sites,” he said.
He also lauded DILG attached agencies Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection for deploying over 20, 000 to assist the LGUs in evacuation efforts.
“Dapat i-commend ang mga ito dahil despite the dangerous situation ay on standby sila (They should be commended because despite the dangerous situation, they were on standby),” he said.
He said the biggest lesson in the successive tropical cyclones is for the LGUs to be firm in implementing forced evacuation and for the public to heed local authorities.
“Kung ayaw nilang umalis ay tanggalin na sa bahay nila imbes na mamatay. At ‘pag sinabi po ng ating mga awtoridad na (If they don’t want to leave, remove them from their house instead of dying. And when our authorities say) evacuate, please evacuate,” he said.
Remulla said two persons were reported dead in Nueva Ecija due to Pepito.
He said the two fatalities refused to evacuate as they wanted to secure their houses by the river.
In a media interview on Monday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed gratitude to first responders and LGUs for working tirelessly to help their constituents. (With a report from Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)