Good morning. Good morning. [Please take your seats.]

Good morning. Let me just greet the members of the Cabinet who are with us and our host, the Pasay City Mayor, Pasay City Mayor Rubiano; AFP Chief of Staff and the commanders of different services; PNP Chief General Rommel Marbil; Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan; and of course, our good First Lady; fellow workers in government; ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Before I begin my formal departure statement, nais ko sana makapagbigay ng konting report sa taumbayan tungkol sa mga pangyayari sa pagdaan ng Typhoon Aghon.

Sa kasalukuyan, ang aming nakita ay tinamaan ang Region IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII at ang apektado ay 12,043 families, 26,726 persons, tatlong airport at saka 29 na seaport ang naging non-operational dahil nga sa pagdaan ng bagyo.

Sa kasalukuyan, anim na lungsod at bayan ay nakaramdam ng tinatawag na power outage o brownout at saka nagkaroon ng 13 flooding incidents at tatlong rain-induced landslide. Ibig sabihin, bumagsak ang ulan at dahil doon gumuho ang lupa.

Kagaya ng dati, lahat ng aming ginagawa ay in coordination — siyempre ang first responder lagi diyan ang ating mga LGU kaya’t as usual, they have brought all their energies together at the very first instance at nasabayan naman, nasundan kaagad ng national government sa pamamagitan ng pagbigay ng assistance, search and rescue na ginawa.

At ang DSWD ay nakapag-provide na ng 1.35 million pesos worth of assistance at mayroon naka-standby fund na 607.9 million na kung sakali man ay mangangailangan tayo ay gagawin natin.

Nakapaghanda rin tayo ng 841 search and rescue retrieval teams na nanggagaling sa AFP, sa Coast Guard, at sa BFP; 465 transportation assets ang made-deploy; and 436 emergency telecommunications equipment ready for deployment dahil alam naman natin na ang hirap na makapagdala ng relief goods hangga’t may communication tayo kaya’t lagi nating inuuna ‘yan.

Kaya’t tuluyan kong inatasan ang DSWD, ang DA, DOH, para makapagbigay ng assistance sa lahat ng mga naging biktima ng Typhoon Aghon.

And dahil ang kasunod naman talaga lagi diyan ay — kaya naman ang DPWH at saka ang DOTr ay kailangan susunod na diyan sa first responder para maayos na kaagad ang mga nasira na infrastructure.

Kaya’t ‘yun lang po sa kasalukuyan. Patuloy pa rin ang ating search and rescue efforts. Patuloy pa rin ang ating…

Nakapaglagay tayo ng — bago pa dumating ‘yung bagyo nakapaglagay na tayo ng mga relief goods na malapit doon sa area ng ating inaasahan na dadaan ‘yung bagyo kaya naka-ready naman sila lahat kaya’t…

Sa unang pagkakataon na makapasok ang ating mga puwersa, ang ating mga DSWD, ang ating Coast Guard, ang ating search and rescue, lahat ng mga asset natin ay makapasok na kaagad dahil nakahanda tayo mula pa noong dumating ang bagyo.

So, patuloy naman ang ating gagawin at hindi natin titigilan ito siyempre hanggang matapos ang ating pagtulong sa mga nasalanta, sa mga naging biktima dito sa ating mga area na tinamaan ng Aghon.

So, that is the interim report for now. We will keep you informed habang tumatagal at makita natin ang pagdaan ng Aghon at kung ano ‘yung kailangan gawin doon sa mga naging biktima.

Now, I’d like to make my departure statement for the trip that I am embarking upon today.

At the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, I will embark on a journey to Brunei Darussalam for a State Visit. It’s my first State Visit to Brunei Darussalam and it is part of my traditional tour of fellow ASEAN Member States since I assumed the Philippine presidency two years ago.

Brunei and the Philippines have enjoyed historically warm relations based on mutual respect and trust and confidence. Brunei has continuously been a reliable partner of the Philippines and our countries have enjoyed extremely friendly relations since we established relations 40 years ago.

Sa aking biyahe patungong Brunei, babaunin ko ang aking tungkulin at pangako na lalo pang palakasin ang ating pagkakaibigan at pagtutulungan ng ating bansa sa ibang bansa kagaya ng Brunei Darussalam.

And as soon as I arrive [in] Bandar Seri Begawan, I will be meeting with His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah to review the progress of our bilateral cooperation, explore new mutually-beneficial partnerships and collaboration aimed at achieving prosperity. We must now deepen the bonds of friendship between our two countries. We expect to conclude several agreements ranging from security to tourism and agriculture.

Brunei has always been an important partner when it comes to Defense Cooperation with the Philippines. So, during my trip, I will discuss with His Majesty ways for further cooperation with Brunei in ensuring the defense of our countries and of our region.

As mentioned in my State of the Nation Address last year, tourism continues to be an important economic engine of our growth, employing at least five million of our kababayans.

During this trip to Brunei, we will sign the Philippines-Brunei Darussalam MOU on Tourism Cooperation, and through this MOU, we hope to entice and attract Bruneian tourists to explore the Philippines. Brunei, despite having a relatively small population, it is the quality of tourists and not the quantity that counts.

These are also among the key priorities borne from the successful convening of the 3rd Philippines-Brunei Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation which was held last August [2023].

I am confident that our partnership with Brunei in these important sectors will further bolster our political, economic, and people-to-people ties.

Tomorrow, I will engage the business communities in the Sultanate and highlight the Philippines as one of the fastest-growing economies [in] Asia, best — as a good choice for investments.

I look forward to securing investments that will generate more jobs, contribute to poverty alleviation, and accelerate the economic transformation of our country.

From there, I will proceed to Singapore and I will deliver the keynote address for this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is a very important dialogue because it is a dialogue about security and defense concerns, amongst several foreign ministers, defense ministers, and I think it is extremely timely that I attend and put forward and articulate the Philippines’ perspectives and outlook on defense and diplomacy while we continue to highlight the Philippines’ commitment to a rules-based international order and constructive multilateralism amidst the current geopolitical challenges that we face in our region.

My [working] visit to Singapore is part of the series of high-level exchanges between the Philippines and Singapore which began at the start of the year.

This year, the Philippines and Singapore are celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations and my visit is timely as I will also take the opportunity to invite the new Singaporean President and Prime Minister to visit the Philippines as a testament to our strengthening bonds.

This is also very useful as they have just changed the leadership. The leadership has just shifted in — earlier this month and it will be very, very good to begin immediately to start to strengthen our relations with the new leaders of Singapore.

Hangad ko po na sa aking pag-uwi rito ay may hatid kaming pasalubong na magandang balita mula sa aming pagbisita sa Brunei at sa Singapore.

Maraming, maraming salamat po at magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat. [applause]

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