The proposal to create a Department of Disaster Resilience is receiving ‘resistance’ from lawmakers of the Philippine Congress, President Rodrigo Duterte said in an address on Sunday.
Responding to reporters’ questions, the President said the lawmakers have concerns about the duplication of duties if a separate agency is created anew, noting that there are already existing agencies doing its supposed task.
“We’re having a resistance. Sa Congress mismo. May iba…doble na daw, a duplication of work. Tama na daw ‘yung isa,” Duterte said.
[We’re having a resistance. In Congress itself. There are those who say there will be a duplication of work. They say one is enough.]
“Sa akin ok lang [That’s fine with me], I can do it in the meantime na maski iyan lang [even with just one]. What is important is that we have the machineries and the equipment, and you have the money and people are there, deployed before the typhoon comes,” he told reporters in an ambush interview.
On Sunday, Duterte flew to Cagayan and Legazpi City to “assess” the situation and conduct a survey on the damage caused by Typhoon Ulysses. The chief executive met with local officials about measures being done to help those severely affected by the typhoon.
