PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: Yeah, all right. Good morning. Good morning to everyone.

We are here now in Mauban to see, upon the advice of the Governor that this was one of the hardest hit places so we’re having to look at the — the reason I… Kahit na wala na ‘yung baha, ang dahilan why I keep going is because I need to see the lay of the land because we really have to think very hard about flood control.

I have seen some of the commentary after yesterday and the day before that people were saying flood control, kulang ‘yung flood control. I think people have to be reminded. This is climate change.

When we talk about climate change. This is it. Iyong anim na buwan na wala tayong kahit isang ano ng tubig, ‘yun ‘yung climate change. Ang sinunod naman within — pumihit nga ang ano, ang panahon. Ngayon, ito naman. This is climate change. We have to do different things. We cannot keep doing the same things that we did before even if they were effective.

One of the conclusions that we came to — sufficient… The flood control in Valenzuela, in Navotas, in Malabon, sufficient ito, for what? 14, 15 years.

But now, unang-una. Nagsabay-sabay kasi. In NCR, what happened there was the — it was a perfect storm. Nagsabay ang high tide. Nagsabay ang habagat. Nagsabay ang bagyo.

So, kahit na mayroon tayong pumping station. Saan mo ipa-pump? High tide. Babalik at babalik din ‘yun.

So, you had to wait until mag-low tide bago mo bombahin ‘yung tubig palabas.

That’s why hanggang ngayon mayroon pang mga areas na… Many of these areas are actually below sea level. And noon, tama na ‘yung mga dike natin. Tama na ‘yung mga slope protection natin, tama na. Ngayon, hindi na tama na dahil sa climate change.

Kaya paulit-ulit kong pinag-uusapan ‘yung Loss and Damage Fund. Kaya paulit-ulit kong pinag-uusapan ‘yung lahat ng ating gagawin sa flood control. We have to be — we have to understand that this is… In the entire human history, this has never happened before. So, we are having to deal with that.

So, now, let’s go down to the specifics of the situation here, especially in Quezon province.

So, let me call to order the situation briefing. The first presentation to be made will be given by the Governor, Governor Angelina Tan, update from the provincial government please. Gov, please go ahead.

QUEZON GOVERNOR ANGELINA TAN: Thank you so much, Mr. President.

First of all, maraming salamat po sa pagbigay po ng aming kahilingan na makabisita po kayo dito sa Quezon.

So, the presentation focuses on, of course, we included the Typhoon Aghon because it was aggravated by Carina, all the damages.

So, kung makita po natin ang Quezon Province was directly hit in May, last week by Typhoon Aghon, and this was aggravated by Typhoon Carina. So, of course, ang affected po natin sectors of agriculture, ang infrastructure natin and ang pangkabuhayan po ng aming mga kalalawigan.

And intervention during that time, we’ve declared state of calamity for two districts. That’s districts one and two.

So, the affected families, as shown po in the presentation, we have 555 barangays, the total affected families all in all is 44,827 with a total of 175,000 plus individuals, and the damages on houses.

So, these individuals and families were given intervention by the DSWD, food packs, and emergency shelter assistance po.

For Typhoon Carina, this is just an initial report that we gathered. There were 2,030 affected families with 6,000 affected persons.

So, the next presentation will show the damages on agriculture. Zero death po tayo for Carina but unfortunately for Typhoon Aghon, we registered two deaths.

For the agriculture, if you can show the presentation as shown Mr. President, ito po ‘yung heavily damaged natin.

A total of Php500-plus million. So, half a billion po ang effect all in all. Mostly, our rice farmers and fisheries po ang affected natin. Okay. For Carina po ang affected po natin are mostly rice and our fisheries po both aquaculture and the catch. Catch po, ‘yun pongmga huli and ‘yung ating mga fishponds right now.

There were irrigations that were damaged also, as presented in the slide presentation. And a total of more than one billion ang ating damage and losses.

Ang the rest of the presentation are just photos of what mentioned by our honorable mayor. If we can show the pictures of the damages on the bangka, the houses, and the infrastructure.

’Yung Mr. President, tinanaw po ninyo kanina na pinakita namin na lupa na gumuho and I agree with your suggestion na ‘yung planting and environmental protection and we just want… Hindi lang po napasama sa presentation but ongoing po ang mga ridge to reef program natin, pagtatanim po ng bakhawan.

So, nagma-mapping na po kami ng mga naapektuhan po ng ating mga bagyo at may intervention po ang provincial government doon.

So, ito po are some of the infrastructure na as discussed by the mayor kanina. For the Typhoon Carina aggravated po ito. So, ito po ‘yung bypass road. Ito po ‘yung mga ongoing ng DPWH. If you can see in the pictures po.

‘Yung sinasabi po ni Mayor na almost ‘yung buong kabahayan po…

Iyan po, Mr. President na lumubog po. Iyon po yung mga entries natin.

Iyon pong nasa presentation. Mali po ‘yung label yata na Mauban-Tignoan, but that’s the Sadsaran, the first site that you visited, na open po kung saan pumasok po ‘yung ating tubig-dagat noong panahon po ng bagyo.

Okay. So, the rest po ng presentation are just pictures of the affected areas and as proposed by different agencies for augmentation to address the current problem.

But I just want to add lang sir. We’ll take the opportunity since you are here. The economic highway that what we have for Quezon is the Atimonan-Mauban-Tignoan to Infanta hanggang Marikina sir, na road.

So, ito po, ito po nasa picture, sir, sa presentation. Ito po ‘yung nag-slide —nagkaroon po ng bumagsak. Ito po ‘yung Mauban-Tignoan na magko-connect po sa atin papuntang Marikina.

So, as mentioned by DPWH, 15 kilometers and six bridges pa po ang hindi nagagawa. So, we call it economic highway.

And the Pacific Highway po which is the Real-Infanta-Nakar to Dingalan, Aurora po. ‘Yung po ‘yung…

OFFICIAL: [off mic]

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Yes, yes po. But that’s all ongoing right now but because of the frequent typhoon and the Habagat in Quezon po, frequent rainy seasons ay naapektuhan at lalo pong… Iyong improvement nasisira. So, lumalaki ang damage po natin.

So far, ‘yun po ‘yung finocus (focus) lang po namin more of Mauban doon po sa infrastructure. The rest of the part of Quezon, ‘yung mga high-impact projects naman po, hindi po naman naapektuhan.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Maybe, we need to focus right now on the flood control projects. This is repair already and rehabilitation.

Kailangan din natin tingnan. So what do we do to avoid this in the future? Of course, we will — make passable again all of these thoroughfares na nasira. ‘Yan kagaya ng Mauban-Tignoan. That’s the Mauban section na gumuho dala ‘yung kalsada.

Of course, we will fix that but we have to… What we are trying to do here is to come up with a overall plan on how to avoid this in the future. So, local knowledge is going to be very important to how we make those plans.

So, in your view, what are the things that need to be done? Itong naging baha, saan nanggaling ang tubig? Nababaha ba ‘yan dati o ngayon lang? Kung ngayon lang, anong nangayari, bakit nagbago? Paano natin aayusin ‘yun? Anong gagawin natin para hindi na mangayari ‘yung ganun with the anticipation na this is not the last one.

QUEZON GOVERNOR TAN: As mentioned po for Mauban itself, talagang nagbabaha but mas gumrabe (grabe) po ang baha. So, ang…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Why? Ano sa palagay ninyo bakit mas grabe ngayon kaysa sa dati?

QUEZON GOVERNOR TAN: Okay, so, number one po is that ‘yun pong ating mga drainage, number one na isa pa po na nakita natin na may problema. Kasi kinompare (compare) po namin in Lucena City na hindi po nagbabaha before pero nagbaha.

So, upon conversation po doon sa mga concerned offices, ang nakita po nilang root cause is that because, sa mahaba po na El Niño so, hindi po napansin na mga clogged ang mga drainage system.

So, that’s a learning lesson pa for all of us. So, then, noong biglang lumakas ang ulan because of Aghon so na-caught by surprise everybody, hindi po handa.

So, ‘yun po ‘yung massive flooding. Dito po sa other coastal municipalities namin siyempre hindi po naiwasan na marami po tayong mga illegal and informal settlers na that actually — ‘yung damage to the environment ‘no, like pagtatapon po nila ng basura, may mga trees po tayo na na-cut na because sa — of course ‘yung ating mga infrastructures being constructed at hindi nasasabayan nang mabilis po na, as mentioned ninyo po kanina ‘yung replanting and protection ‘no.

So, ‘yung development when it comes to infrastructure, dere-deretso. But ‘yung intervention namin in the local also, in partnership with other national government, hindi nakakasabay nang gaano kabilis namin nagagawa. So, nagiging reactive sir doon sa nangyayari.

So, ‘yun po ‘yun. And then I think ‘yun ‘yung nakita po namin na on our part na na-consolidate as mentioned by our local chief executives every time mayroon po kaming meeting.

That’s why we focused doon sa kaya po lamang naming gawin, like I mentioned po doon sa intervention on environmental protection, but also ‘yun po kaya po ngayon nag [unclear] updated ang atin pong mga municipalities to update po all their development and drainages and identify po ‘yung — saan ‘yung root causes and then saan nanggagaling talaga ‘yung mga problema pa aside po doon sa na-identify po namin.

So, at this time po ang — ang provincial government po is assisting the local government on that. Iyon pong mga — every time may bagyo or wala mang bagyo pero heavy rains. So, inuuna po namin sila for the municipal development po ng lahat nginfrastructure and all other projects na kinakailangan pong gawin. So, phase by phase, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah but… That’s all right. But that’s preparing for the last flood. Let’s not do that. Let’s prepare for the next flood. This is the first typhoon sa La Niña. Mahaba pa ‘to. So, we have to prepare for that. Let’s think about preparing for that.

Kasi ‘yun nga, nabanggit mo Gov. na may mga lugar na dati hindi binabaha. Ganun din sa amin. Iyong dati hindi binabaha. Alam na namin kung saan pumupunta ‘yung tubig, kung saan mababaha. Pero hindi na, nagbago lahat.

So, that’s what we have to figure out. Bakit nagbago ‘yan? Saan nanggaling ang tubig? Saan dumaan? Anong gagawin natin para harangin ‘yan? Para at least i-impound. Whatever, kung ano ba ‘yung magiging plano.

The reason nga that — kaya nga ako pa-ikot-ikot kasi ang flood control… Ang tubig hindi nangingilala ng boundary, kaya ang flood control has to be a big plan.

Hindi puwedeng — it will cross three, four, five regions. Hindi puwedeng isang bayan lang dito, isang bayan lang doon. That’s why we’re trying to assess what are the significant changes because all our flood control projects are projects that are in response to the — ‘yung mga flooding noon.

Bago na, nagbago. Number one, ‘yung dagat umakyat na. Mas mataas na ang dagat ngayon kaysa sa dati, number one. Kaya pag nag-high tide nasasapawan, umaapaw ‘yung tubig sa mga dikes, sa mga flood control. Kaya’t kailangan natin tingnan ulit ‘yun.

But padagdag lang nang padagdag ng dike, gagawin mo, dagdagan mo ng isang meter. That’s not going to do it. We have to understand the flow of the water and how to somehow manage it so that it does not flood into the productive areas, the households, the residential communities, masira ‘yung bahay ng tao, and this kind of thing na nasisira ‘yung daan.

All right. We will take note of all of the necessary things that we will have to do but this really has to — kailangan hindi ito puwedeng ano lang. Talagang it’s going to have to be a national plan, oo.

It will have to be a national plan. Mayroon parating ngayon sa Mindanao. Tingnan na naman natin kung ano ‘yung gagawin. All right. Thank you, Gov.

Okay. Let’s now move on to the next briefing which will be the situation report that will be given us by DILG. Sec. Benhur mayroon kang ano?

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (DILG) SECRETARY BENJAMIN ABALOS JR.: Yes, Mr. President. Actually, this involves not only Quezon but the whole of CALABARZON.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: O, sige.

SEC. ABALOS: Before I start, tama po kayo kanina. Actually, I was talking with the Mayor Ninong kanina of Mauban and he informed me talagang dito raw sa kanila ay talagang reversed. Habang walang ulan sa atin, kanila baliktad ang weather. Mas matindi ho ang ulan daw dito. It’s the reverse ang nangyayari po rito.

So, probably it’s better to anticipate those. Nakita po natin kanina. Sinasabi niya ‘yung seawall talagang dapat taasan po ito, mga 800 meters. Kasi halos — before halos buong Mauban ay talagang flooded po.

Just to start this Mr. President.

So, sa lahat po, Batangas, Cavite, Rizal, San Mateo has declared a State of Calamity. Ito pong Quezon noon pong Tropical Cyclone Aghon, up to now noong May 28. Pero as of now, hindi na ho kayo nag-State of Calamity.

So, you will see here, 41 out of 41 lahat ng mga mayors, governor talagang kumilos ho nang husto rito.

Okay. Ito ang status ng evacuation dito po sa Quezon as per the records of the DILG. Hindi naman ho ganun kadami. Nag-[inaudible] po kami ng data ng DSWD, more or less.

28 families and about 55 individuals. Status of lifelines, ito po sa buong Quezon ‘no. Tama po si Governor kanina. It’s the Mauban-Tignoan ang tinamaan po nang husto.

Sa Batangas, I think it’s six; Cavite, four; Laguna, three; Rizal, six. Total of 20 non-passable.

Power interruptions sa Quezon, dalawa po ang walang kuryente. Sa Rizal, dalawa; Laguna, isa; Cavite, 13; Batangas, 15. And electricity has been restored in two affected LGUs.

Ito po ‘yung mga dams ‘no para ano lang ho sa buong CALABARZON. We’ve got the Balanac Dam. We’ve got the Botocan Dam that will affect Calabarzon. Caliraya Dam, PrinzaDam; Molino Dam. Wala hong release Mr. President. Walang umapaw. At we’ve already informed them to immediately inform the LGUs downstream.

Also, sa irrigation din. Sinama na namin ang Palico River irrigation system, Balayungan IRS, Sahing, Butas, Tres Cuzes, Matanda, Pasong Kastila et cetera. Wala rin pong mga release ito.

Flooded area, Quezon, Tayabas City, knee level. As per the Regional Director of Quezon, it has subsided. As what we’ve seen also this morning in Quezon.

Mabilis naman po mag-subside, Mr. President. Ang hard-hit areas dito is Agdangan and Polillo na nag-assist na po ng family food packs with water and solar lights. Sa Polillo, food assistance, materials for boat repairs, financial assistance.

Sinama ko na po rito sa data sa Rizal, sa Batangas, at sa Cavite, at sa Laguna, Mr. President.

And ito po, this is quite ano. Iyong hard-hit areas. Governor, are we right it’s Polillo? It’s 12,535 with 2,407 families. Parating tinatamaan yata po itong island na ito and Agdangan, Mr. President.

Casualties for Quezon, isa lang po, Panukulan as of July 24. Batangas, apat ang number of death — Agoncillo, Nasugbu, isa; Cavite, Kawit, isa; San Mateo, isa; Rodriguez, isa. For a total of nine for CALABARZON. So, for the missing. Tatlo po ang CALABARZON, dalawa sa Rizal at isa sa Cavite. Iyon lang po, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. Thank you, Sec. Benhur for giving us that overview of the whole CALABARZON situation. Well, we’ll be going to Rizal province after here. So, we can put that all together.

Sa’yo naman because nandito ‘yung thoroughfares. Anong report mo sa thoroughfares? National roads, you said, wala namang — walang nasara. How about the local surface roads?

DPWH SECRETARY MANUEL BONOAN: Mr. President, the recent reports actually mayroon pa ho ‘yung local roads that remain closed for the time being but we have already mobilized…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: These are usually na-landslide…

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: Yes, landslide. We are now clearing them up, Mr. President. Siguro today and tomorrow we should be able to clear out all the landslides, particularly in the local roads, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Okay.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: We are doing it a little bit slowly sometimes, Mr. President, because saturated masyado ‘yung slopes and we don’t want to — kaagad-agad na until such time mag-stable lang nang kaunti. But ongoing na po lahat ‘yung mgaclearing operations namin on the roads, Mr. President, including ‘yung mga local roads. We are coordinating with the Governor…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Always my concern after the storm and the flooding, are there still isolated communities na hindi pa natin napuntahan?

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Wala na po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Wala na?

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Yes po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: So, everywhere we have been able to reach?

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Yes. Yes, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Okay. All right.

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Everyone po were given food packs, noon pong before naka-preposition po tayo sa barangay.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Okay.

QUEZON GOV. TAN: ‘Yung nasa PAGASA report po ng coastalnatin and then after po noong humina na, nagdistribute din po tayo. Iyon ‘yung immediate po na ginawa po natin. So, for the affected houses po ito na lang po ‘yung natira, ‘yung sa Carina na ilan po na families na identified, na reported, magbibigay po ng financial assistance.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: All right. That’s good. At least nabuksan na lahat, naabutan na natin lahat. All right. Let’s move now to DSWD to see where we are.

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT (DSWD) SECRETARY REX GATCHALIAN: Mr. President Good morning. Mr. President, the presentation is Carina and Habagat, but just briefly on Aghon kasi parang magkapatid sila. Iyong Aghon, we, as Governor was saying and the Congress people know that we have prepositioned goods in Quezon. It’s one of those that we really put in dahil nga they are always right smacked in the middle of the action.

So, before Aghon hit, we had a stockpile of around 50,000 in the province. We’re planning to grow that to 70,000 to 80,000. In fact, sila Gov. and sila Cong. all helped us to get different warehouses everywhere in the region. Mayroon tayo sa Polillo nga. So then — Polillo got hit, we had goods in Polillo itself.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Mayroon na bang bumabalik sa bahay from the evacuation centers?

QUEZON GOV. TAN: [inaudible]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Ganyan talaga ang tao. The minute, hangga’t maaari — as soon as possible gusto nilang bumalik. Yeah, so…

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: So, Mr. President, during Aghon we managed to exhaust the entire 50,000. So, naubos ‘yun. We replenished it. And now sa Carina naman, we were only able to get 1,996 requests from the various LGUs. So, parehas kami ng report ni Sec. Abalos. It’s Agdangan, Macalelon, and Unisan.

QUEZON GOV. TAN: [off mic]

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: And nabigay na rin, Mr. President. So, we’re now on the process of using some of their stockpile to beef up ‘yung sa ibang region, in 4-A. Dahil, because everybody’s getting resources from NCR, we decided to pull out some from Quezon and moved them to other regions naman — other provinces in the region.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Basta walang… We don’t — hindi magkulang. Because if you have… These are the requests, mukha namang na — naibigay niyo lahat nung — na-i-release niyo lahat nung requests.

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Fully supplied na ho ‘yan. Yes, Mr. President.

Mr. President, the next slide parehas ni Sec. Benhur we’ll move on to next one kasi Rizal ‘yan. We’ll do that later. So for the entire region, we got a request of — actaully hindi na ho ‘yan, it was updated by this morning’s report. Baka hindi na lang nahabol. Mr. President, the total request deployed for the entire 4-A is 42,785, for the entire Region 4-A. Lahat ho ‘yan, fully supplied. We probably have 4,000 to 10,000 na pending requests, which we should be able to deploy within the next 24 hours.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Okay. All right.

DSWD SEC. GATCHALIAN: Mr. President, alam niyo naman the major impact talaga this time was NCR and Central Luzon. So that’s why doon kami nagde-deploy ngayon ng mas maraming goods.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Maraming pang ano isolated doon. And in terms of the… We are able to service those who are — give them some kind of, you know… They will have some health issues. May lalagnatin, mayroong nasaktan sa bagyo ganun. We’re able to take care of them?

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DOH) SECRETARY TEODORO HERBOSA: Yes, Mr. President ‘no. Mayroon kaming quick release fund sa Department of Health at usually pag ganitong flooding, ‘yung pinapalabas namin ‘yung CAMPOLAS kit. This is all the medicines na natutunan namin over the years na kailangan noong mga taong nababaha. Pangalawa, ‘yung hygiene kits kasi madumi talaga, maputik.

So, we give out those. The third na ni-report sa akin kahapon ng aking personnel that maraming health facilities na nasira pero ‘yung mga primary care facilities, isa lang ‘yung health facility ko, ‘yung sa San Lorenzo Ruiz which is in Malabon na katabi ng Polo River. That’s the one.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oo, that’s one.

DOH SEC. HERBOSA: Flooded in the… Iyong pump niya hindi na nag-work kasi as we said, it has a pump but the ground floor was flooded.

‘Yun nga, next time, sabi ko, the decision should be whether to just stop operations of the hospital and just evacuate the patients. So, sabi namin maybe it’s about time to think about [boats?].

The other one is the eleven facilities all over Region 1, 2, 3. Sabi namin, baka it’s about time to rebuild them as a more resilient health facility and the roofdeck can be a rescue area for the elderly and the children. So, nag-usap na kami ni Secretary Bonoan baka the way we rebuild them is… Para it’s in the community na, the health center. Para alam nung mga tao pagka tumaas ang tubig kagaya nung kuwento dito, it’s a storm surge, may matatakbuhan silang mataas. Doon na sila maghintay and then rescue can come.

And then ang isa pang addition na ni-request ko, magkaroon ng rainwater collecting system in the health facility kasi potable water po ang magse-save sa ating mga victims na nata-trap. Kahit nasa bubong ka, at least basta may water ka, kahit 24 hours before NDRRMC or rescue can get to you, mayroon kang naiinom na water.

So, hopefully, mangyari ‘yun tapos pati energy kung may solar. At least kahit cut ang electricity, ‘yung telepono macha-charge, makakatawag sa rescue. So, ‘yun ang mga suggestion sa akin ng mga ahensya po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Solars turning out to be one of our most, biggest — one of the best options that we have for many, many purposes.

Okay, I think we have a good idea of what — mukha naming the — we are still in partially in the relief phase. But I think we have it — we have done enough to make sure that everybody who needs help is being provided with that help, both in terms of relief goods, both in terms of healthcare.

And ngayon, ‘yung sa ano… Doon sa mga malalaking like the — what was it? Iyong na-washout na — Mauban section. Titingnan natin kaagad ‘yan to see what we can do. Baka mayroon tayo… How long is the section that was washed out? Sa picture, hindi ko makita. Siguro mga what? Mga 200, 300 meters?

OFFICIAL: 100 meters.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: 100 meters?

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: O, 100 meters. Siguro, we can manage that. O, sige.

OFFICIAL: Pinapa-assess ko na po…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Pero mahirap ‘yun. Basta’t lalagay mo… Magtatayo ka na naman. Hindi pa — as you say, hindi pa stable ‘yung slope.

QUEZON GOV. TAN: If I may add po, hindi lang po na-stress kanina ‘yung Lucban-Sampaloc-Mauban Road. Am I right, RD? Mayroong — how many meters?

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

GOVERNOR TAN: Malalim po. It’s in the picture po. So, ang nangyari po ngayon is one way passable path, one way passable po ‘yung road. It’s a national road po. So, how many meters, RD, ‘yung…? 200 meters ang information from…

OFFICIAL: Pinapa-assess ko na sa [inaudible] ‘yung…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Ano ‘yung gagawin natin para madaanan? What’s the first thing we can do?

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: We’ll have to widen it a little bit. Passable naman ‘yung…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: It’s passable?

QUEZON REP. WILFRIDO MARK ENVERGA: Yes, Mr. President. What happened was, there are several slips in several areas.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oh, I see, I see.

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA: So, may malalim, sir, na bangin, so one lane na lang ‘yung passable. We’re just worried, Mr. President, baka, Secretary Manny, is pag may truck na dumaan baka bumigay. Kapag ‘yun bumigay, wala na kami…

OFFICIAL: [off mic]

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA:: Yes, sir. Iyon lang, sir. If, baka puwedeng…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Yeah… [inaudible] Of course, as quickly as possible, we’ll have to… But you know, we have to also make sure that what we… When we rebuild or ‘yung emergency measures na gagawin natin, hindi rin mawawala. Kasi pag hindi tama ang pagkagawa, it’s a very difficult engineering problem, oo. How to make it stable even after there’s a landslide.

Anong immediate diyan para lang ma-open? Wala tayong magagawa. If there is… So, ‘yung nag-one lane, natangay na ‘yung ….

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA: One lane is left, sir.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Is it still safe? No, but puwedeng daanan ng truck, ganun?

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA: Puwedend daanan, sir. Bangin kasi siya, sir, so…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Oo nga eh.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: It’s either we’re going to widen it and rebuild [inaudible] ‘yung nasirang slope.

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA: Yes, sir, medyo malalim lang kasi bangin. But we’ll defer sir to…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Sige. No, no. We have some, of course, we have… Unfortunately, we have experience on how to do this so we will… Of course, but the design or whatever we do, it has to be determined by an engineering assessment as to the stability of what you will build on, what you can do quickly para lang madaanan, maging two and how will you rebuild it eventually na as a permanent structure.

Anyway, these are things we need to… This is it ‘no. Ito iyan. Malalim nga.

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: May mga ganyan?

QUEZON REP. ENVERGA: Ganyan, sir, kinain iyong ilalim, sir.

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: [inaudible] Immediately, mag-[inaudible] Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Pero will that do — pero temporary lang ‘yan ‘di ba?

DPWH SEC. BONOAN: We will strengthen it with some structure sa baba to make it stable ‘yung [inaudible].

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Hindi, aabutin mo talaga hanggang doon sa stable na bedrock.

Sige. All right. Yes?

QUEZON REP. DAVID SUAREZ: Yes, boss. If I may add, sir, one thing that I realized, I think we need to improve ‘yung flow and carrying capacity ng mga rivers natin. We noticed that’s where the water is really flowing from. Maganda po ‘yung proposal ngayon ng DPWH at saka ng NIA na magku-convergence program sila. I think there’s an opportunity here.

Ang malaking problema natin sa mga magsasaka natin. Kapag panahon ng tag-init, walang tubig. So, kung mapaparami po natin ‘yung mga water catchment areas, water placement areas sa panahon ng tag-ulan, at least male-lessen natin ‘yung baha. At the same time, pag dumating naman ‘yung panahon ng tagtuyot, mapapakinabangan po ‘to ng mga magsasaka natin.

Maganda po ‘yung convergence program ng NIA at ng DPWH. If we can just help identify those specific areas in the soonest possible time, of course, with the help of our local government units because we’ll have to address issues such as land ownership, we can improve the situation quickly, Mr. President.

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Actually, start na po Mr. President ‘yung adjusting po namin ng [inaudible]. So, may mga areas po tayo na nag-pilot po tayo. So, certain variety of mga seeds pero ano lang po, mga small areas like a hundred hectares so that we’ll see kung kaya and then we’ll implement it province-wide doon sa mga areas po natin especially [inaudible] kasi ang Quezon po ay 60 percent rain. [inaudible] Malaking impact talaga sa amin ‘yung agriculture and fisheries.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, ganun talaga ‘yan. The weather has changed. Hindi mo na malaman kung tag-ulan o tag-araw. Nung La Niña, nagbabaha…

OFFICIAL: [off-mic]

QUEZON GOV. TAN: Starting May sir, sa Quezon sir ano — siguro po in a month, wala pa pong seven days ang sun [inaudible] talagang ulan. After po ng…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Pero the six months previous, kahit isang patak ng ulan, wala. That’s climate change. That’s why we keep talking about it. People have to be conscious about it, especially us who are trying to find ways to mitigate the problem.

All right. Okay. I think we have a good idea, thank you. We have a good idea. Well, at the very least, we can say that on the provision of relief and shelter and healthcare, we’re okay. We’ve been able to provide that.

Now, ‘yung mga input ninyo, isasama natin ‘yan. As I keep saying, you cannot do this to one province, one town, one… It has to be — it will cross regions itong plano na ito. And that’s what we have.

There’s already a big plan noong panahon pa ni Secretary Babes Singson. Gumawa siya ng overall plan. But it will take 20 years, 22 years, something like that and ang laki ng cost. Although, it will work pero I don’t know how we’ll do it.

And it crosses most of Luzon, for the NCR pa lang ‘yun ha. NCR pa lang ‘yun. But that’s what we… Wala, we have no choice, we have to do something like that. We have to learn how to handle the new weather, the new normal.

Okay? Is there anything else? Anyone would like to add? All right. Maraming salamat sa inyo. Thank you for this. Thank you. Thank you.

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