Remarks by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. following his ocular inspection of affected areas in Metro Manila

Just a simple assessment ng ano… The reason I did this was to really inspect because I wanted to see what the situation was.

And I was right. It’s really different listening — reading a piece of paper than actually seeing it and seeing what people have to go through.

So, Valenzuela has the usual problem. Talagang basin ‘yan. Laging nababaha ang Valenzuela. But marami na silang flood control pero nasapawan itong — sa dami ng tubig.

So, we have to relook, we have to re-examine some of the designs of our flood control dahil the… For example, this was not — the amount of water was not as bad as Ondoy.

But the effect were greater than Ondoy. Mas malaki ang baha. Mas maraming nabaha na lugar kaysa panahon ng Ondoy.

Mas marami tayong flood control ngayon kaysa noon pero climate change. This is what the effects of climate change are.

Now, what we have seen is that one of the most important parts that nagkaproblema was that navigation gate that we went to, na nasira because binangga ng isang barko. Basta’t hindi sumunod sa instruction. Sinira niya.

That is why Navotas is still 80 percent under water. Malabon, the same. Well, Valenzuela also.

So, we have to really look into that… Iyong pumping stations natin marami na.

Nagkaproblema lang. Sana matuto naman ang tao. Huwag kayong nagtatapon ng basura dahil ‘yung basura, ‘yun ang nagbara doon sa mga pump natin kaya hindi kasing effective na puwede.

Like in Navotas, 81. In Valenzuela, I think they have 32. So, marami na ‘yung pumping station. Pero talaga you have to put it somewhere.

Yesterday, 12 o’clock was high tide, 12 o’clock noong nag-high tide. Nagsabay-sabay. Malakas ang ulan tapos nag-high tide. So, at least now, I’m very clear of what the situation is.

I’ll be going to inspect all the other areas when we can travel to see what else is needed in the other parts of the country that suffered flooding.

Now, when I get back to the office, I will be putting together — now that I know what the situation is, where the areas are that need the most, we’ll be putting together already the [relief] packages for the LGUs, here in NCR, not only NCR, in Region 3, in CALABARZON, NCR.

Marami nang tumawag sa akin kaninang umaga pa. So, we will put that all together so that we can go to DBM and tell them to release this already para magamit na ng ating mga local officials.

All right. Okay. Thank you.

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