The government will continue to provide assistance to families who were affected by the trough of the low pressure area in the Caraga region, particularly access to medicine and potable water, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Friday.
The President led the situation briefing in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, where he was apprised of the situation in Caraga Region. During the briefing, the President told local officials to coordinate with the concerned government agencies to ensure immediate response to the affected areas.
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa Jr. said they have already provided the release of their quick release funds to their regional office in Caraga.
“The regional office has already provided some of the medicines, some of them are for the wash, water and sanitation and hygiene. We provided already a bladde (tank) for water. And we also provided aqua tabs because we detected coliforms in the water source, so we are trying to avoid any outbreak in waterborne diseases,” Herbosa said.
In the same meeting, President Marcos stressed the need to provide a “more extended solution” to address limited source of potable water to areas still submerged in flood.
He mentioned the national government, through the efforts of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), is able to lend water purification machines to affected regions.
“We’ll continue to provide what we can but we have to have longer term, a more extended solution and what we usually do sa ibang lugar, nagpapadala kami ng purification system na galing pa sa MMDA ‘yung iba,” President Marcos said.
“But that’s seems to be a practical stop gap measure in terms of providing water supply because as we all know that’s going to be critical,” he added, noting that it may also be practical to lend some of the machines for Caraga.
According to DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos, there are still remaining 15 units of water purification machines that can be lent to Caraga as some of its units are currently deployed in Davao region.
“Most of them are in Davao right now. Pero tumawag po ako kaninang umaga, mayroon pa naman pong naiwan sa Metro Manila. Pwede pong mapapadala maski mga labing-limang makina. One machine can provide 185 gallons per hour. So, bukas po padala po natin kaagad,” Abalos said. PND
