PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: All right, good afternoon. We just finished the program dito sa 9th Year Commemoration ng Typhoon Yolanda.

And as I mentioned ay hindi natin dapat makalimutan hindi lamang ‘yung mga nasalanta sa bagyo, ‘yung mga namatay, at idagdag natin diyan ‘yung namatay na hanggang ngayon ay hindi natin alam kung ano ang bilang.

Kaya’t kailangan nandito tayo para ipaalala. Unfortunately, since I have been coming from Typhoon-prone areas, nakikita natin that Yolanda really was the first of the new normal.

At ito na talaga ang ating — nakita ninyo ang nangyari sa Mindanao, nakita ninyo ang nangyari sa Central Luzon. All of these areas were hit now by one typhoon, which is something new.

Hindi naman dapat… Dati localized lagi. Ngayon eh, Luzon hanggang Mindanao ay tinamaan. So Yolanda was really a precursor for all of these effects of the — all of the effects of climate change.

So we have been discussing many things about the rescue and relief that we have been undertaking in the past few weeks now. And I think that overall, we can say that the response to the disasters — the disaster response has been a good one. However, I believe that there are ways when we can even make it more streamlined.

And there has been a suggestion that has been going around for many years now, and that we will put the disaster response team, the national response team, under the Office of the President. And I think that we are headed in that direction because of the weather that we are suffering now from the effects of climate change.

So we are continuing to refine the procedures, to refine the processes, the organization, so that we will do even better than we have so far.

So far, I think the response — we cannot ask our departments to respond any more quickly. We can only do more in terms of actual bringing the assistance, putting the infrastructure together, and making sure that the LGUs are functioning, that there is communication, that there is power.

This can be done if — now there’s the NDRRMC and they are the ones who are tasked to do this. But I think it would be equally, if not a more robust system, if we put it under the Office of the President.

So that’s what we are planning to do in the near future.

Q: Sir, are you questioning the number of fatalities?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: I have questioned it from day one. I have questioned – 6,000 plus ang sabi nila? It’s not 6,000 plus.

Q: Sa tingin niyo po ilan po?

Q: Sir, what are we supposed to do sir to really determine the number of casualties of Yolanda?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, it’s too late. It’s too late.

Okay. Thank you.

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SOURCE: OPS-PND (Presidential News Desk)