Nine local chief executives were not able to personally attend to their duties during the Typhoon Ulysses for several reasons related to COVID-19, an official said Friday.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said only 1,038 officials were present out of the 1,047 local government units affected
Despite their absence, these nine officials are “all accounted for,” adding that they have sent instructions to their team to deploy their local disaster risk reduction and management councils and emergency teams.
“Iyong siyam na wala, ito ay various reasons, iba ay tinamaan ng COVID, ang iba ay under quarantine,” he said in a media briefing.
[The nine officials who were missing, these were due to different reasons. Some were infected with COVID-19 while some are under quarantine.]
Local officials are mandated to explain the cause of their absence. They may face administrative sanctions before the Office of the Ombudsman if found to be remiss in their duties.
Typhoon Ulysses left 14 casualties and three people missing. An estimate of P4.3 billion worth of infrastructure and agriculture was also damaged by the typhoon.
