Q: Sir, magandang umaga po. I’m Pia Gutierrez po from ABS-CBN. Sir, the son of Justice Secretary Remulla has been recently… So the son of Secretary — Justice Secretary Remulla has been arrested recently for drug possession. What are your directives on this sir, especially as there are calls for him to resign? Sabi po nila, wala na daw po moral authority si Secretary Remulla to be Justice Secretary.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I think the calls for him to resign have no basis. You call for somebody to resign if he’s not doing his job or that they have misbehaved in that job. He has not done… And quite the contrary, he has taken a very proper position that he is recusing himself from any involvement in the case of his son.

And I think that the – being the Secretary of the Department of Justice, he’s very aware that he must allow the processes of the judiciary to work properly and that no one in the Executive should interfere.

Q: Maraming salamat, sir.

Q: Eden Santos from NET25. Mr. President, what are your directives po to address the possible impact of Bagyong Neneng?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Of?

Q: Typhoon Neneng.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, ganun lagi naman kami, pare-pareho naman ang aming laging – basta’t gusto namin… That’s why we get lead from the DOST, from PAGASA. Kailangan natin na merong magandang forecast para alam natin kung ano ‘yung paghahandaan natin.

We were already in place actually for the previous typhoon. So at least nandiyan na – hindi na… Ang naging problema ay ‘yung flooding. Nakita ko ‘yung mga reports from Cagayan na ‘yun ang naging problema sa area na ‘yun. So we will have to – we will have to also look at that and see kung ano pa ‘yung mga kailangan gawin.

Now, itong parating. Last one was Maymay. Anong pangalan nitong bago? Neneng. So Neneng now, I think unfortunately looks a little stronger than ano. It looks a little stronger than the previous one at doon mas northern ang kanyang track.

So nakabantay kami nang mabuti. But once again, I think the key to all of these is to watch it very closely because may bagong feature ang mga bagyo ngayon. ‘Yung…

Kung naalala ninyo ‘yung Karding was a Typhoon Signal No. 1. Within ilang oras lang naging 5 na, 4, 5. Mabilis mag-develop kaya kailangan nakabantay tayo nang husto. So that’s what we are doing.

But in terms of relief goods, in terms of material, in terms of assets, we have put them as close as possible to the – ‘yung doon sa track na forecast ng ating PAGASA, so that makapasok sila kaagad when the time comes.

The estimate now is that 10,000 people will be affected by this Neneng. So that is what we are — those are the kind of numbers that we are preparing for.

All right?

Q: Hi sir. Opposition lawmakers urged you to use your legal powers as Chief Executive to end former senator Leila de Lima’s detention, saying you can do this without interfering with courts hearing her cases by ordering the prosecutors to dismiss the charges against her or…

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I think urging prosecutors to do one thing or another is interfering. So that’s why we… I have said we are very, very clear that we have three departments of government. At siguro naman, hindi natin dapat… Pabayaan natin. Hindi naman natin pinagdududahan ang proseso eh.

I think the process is there. We are continuing to – we are continuing to monitor what is going on. The extent…

I think to clarify, I spoke — when the incident in the detention center happened in Camp Crame, I spoke to Senator De Lima on the Sunday — Sunday, I was still in Ilocos eh. So I remember it was a Sunday.

I spoke to her Sunday morning. I asked Secretary Benhur Abalos to go and to find out that everything was okay, that she was okay. And I said, pasukin mo at kausapin ko. And that is what I said.

And the reason I asked, I wanted to speak to her was I wanted to ask her if she feels safe. Because if she doesn’t feel safe, sabi ko sa kanya, “ililipat ka namin.” And she said, sabi nga naman niya na hindi naman siguro kailangan.

So she never asked me to do anything in terms… ‘Yun lang, ‘yung tweet niya, ‘yung what she tweeted, I think yesterday. That was the extent of it. So that is the extent of our discussion with the former senator.

All right? You have one more? Oh, one more. It’s always the last one that’s the deadly one.

Q: Hi sir, magandang umaga po. Maricel Halili from TV5. Sir, should we expect another announcement following the appointment of Usec. Garafil? I mean Usec. Garafil is doing a good job now but we’re just wondering if why did you appoint her as OIC instead of Cabinet Secretary? May we know sir?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Because we are still in transition. We talked about rightsizing all the time. We’re rightsizing everything, everywhere all the time and this is part of that. So that’s the reason that we… As I said, we still feel – I still feel – we are still in transition. But nagso-solidify na ‘yan, ‘yang mga position na ‘yan.

All right? Thank you. Good morning.

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SOURCE: OPS-PND (Presidential News Desk)