DISMAYADO si Pangulong Bongbong Marcos sa sinapit ng mga taga-Mindanao sa gitna ng pananalasa ng severe tropical storm Paeng.
Sa full council briefing ng National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council na pinangunahan mismo ni Marcos, kasama si Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim at Maguindanao Govenor Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu, iniulat na 40 katao ang nasawi sa Maguindanao (at hindi 72 gaya nang unang napaulat).
Dahil dito nausisa ni Marcos si Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. kung bakit hindi agad naabisuhan ang mga taga Mindanao na magkakaroon ng matinding pagbaha dahil sa bagyo.
“I would like to start with the flooding in Maguindanao, simply because we have to already look at it dahil ang daming casualty. It will be important to us to look back and see why this happened, na hindi natin naagapan ito na 67 ang casualty,” ayon kay Marcos sa isinagawang meeting.
“So maybe if we could start with there first, just to give me a better idea of what happened, what caused the flooding and bakit hindi natin sila na-evacuate at nagkaganyan ang casualty, napakataas?” dagdag pa ni Marcos.
Alas-3 ng hapon nitong Biyernes ay nag-isyu ng heavy rainfall warning ang kagawaran habang ang Maguindanao ay inilagay sa orange warning level na nagbibigay babala na “flooding is threatening in low-lying areas and landslides in mountainous areas.”
“We could have done better in Maguindanao in terms of preparing. Because the 40 casualties… with 10 people missing is a little too high. We could have done better than that. We were not able to anticipate na ganun ang magiging laki ng tubig kaya hindi natin nawarningan ’yung mga tao, and then to evacuate them out of the incoming flash floods. So that’s something that we’re going to have to study a bit more,” dagdag pa ng pangulo.
