Republic of the Philippines Presidential Communications Operations Office NEWS AND INFORMATION BUREAU PCOO-NIB Building, Malacañang Compound, Malacañang, Manila Telephone Number: 733-3660 Telefax: 733-1631 TRANSCRIPTION PRESS BRIEFING OF COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY HERMINIO “SONNY” COLOMA and SECRETARY TO THE CABINET JOSE RENE ALMENDRAS November 13, 2013 (12:48 NN – 2:29 PM) SEC. COLOMA: Magandang tanghali po sa inyong lahat. Taos-pusong nagpapasalamat ang ating pamahalaan sa pandaigdigang komunidad sa patuloy na pagdaloy ng mga donasyon at suporta ng mga pamahalaan at pribadong organisasyon. Tuluy-tuloy at walang-humpay ang pagkilos ng lahat ng puwersa at ahensiya ng pamahalaan sa lahat ng larangan upang tumugon sa pangangailangan ng ating mga kababayan. Ang mga prayoridad ng ating pamahalaan ay ang mga sumusunod: Una, ang agarang paghatid ng pagkain, tubig, gamot at tulong-medikal; pangalawa, pagbibigay nang pansamantalang panuluyan o temporary shelter para sa mga nawalan ng tahanan; pangatlo, pagbabalik ng kuryente at linya ng komunikasyon; pang-apat, panunumbalik ng transportasyong panlupa, pandagat at panghimpapawid; at panglima, pagbabalik ng mga pangunahing serbisyo-publiko na pinagtutulungan ng pambansa at lokal na pamahalaan doon sa mga lugar ng kalamidad na kung saan ang mga empleyado ng gobyerno ay biktima rin ng kalamidad. Nauunawaan natin ang pag-aalala sa kalagayan ng mga nasalanta ng kalamidad na hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa natutunton ang kanilang mga kamag-anak. Bente kwatro oras po ang operasyon ng pambansang network, ng PTV-4, Telebisyon ng Bayan at Radyo ng Bayan 738 khz para tanggapin ang mga panawagan ng mga mamamayan sa hindi pa makontak na mga kamag-anak, at upang tumugon sa mga mahahalagang pangangailangan. Maaari rin pong gamitin ang mga Facebook, Twitter at iba pang social media accounts ng PTV-4, Gov@work, at Philippine Information Agency or PIA. Nagtayo na rin ang pamahalaan ng mga assistance desks sa NDRRMC sa Camp Aguinaldo at sa lugar mismo ng kalamidad – sa Tacloban at Ormoc, Leyte; Borongan, Eastern Samar at Catarman, Northern Samar. Ito ay pinapangasiwaan ng NDRRMC sa pakikipagtulungan ng PIA at Philippine National Red Cross. May mga roving teams ang PIA at Red Cross sa mga lgar na ito upang mangalap ng impormasyon mula sa mga nakaligtas, tulad ng pangalan at larawan ng mga hinahanap upang maihatid sa kani-kanilang mga kamag-anak sa labas ng lugar. Patuloy pong tumatanggap ng tulong ang pamahalaan mula sa mga civic organizations at iba pang private organizations para sa agarang paghahatid ng tulong na ito sa mga lugar ng kalamidad. Makipag-ugnayan po sa NDRRMC Camp Aguinaldo, at sa DSWD sa kanilang national relief operations center sa Pasay City. As of the last update from NDRRMC, the total number of casualties has reached 1,833, while 2,623 have been reported injured. Cost of damage is estimated at P761.4 million. On this 5th day, since the onslaught of the Super Typhoon Yolanda, the government is conducting intensified operations to address the urgent needs of our people in the calamity areas. Government is addressing the following priorities: first, immediate delivery of food, water, medicines and medical assistance; second, provision of temporary shelters for displaced residents; third, restoration of power and communication services; fourth, restoration of land, sea and air transportation services; and fifth, restoration to normalcy of essential government services in hardest hit calamity areas where government employees and their families were also displaced. Government’s initial efforts were hampered by the massive scale of destruction brought about by what is now being regarded as the strongest cyclone in recorded history. Communication and power lines were cut-off. Tacloban airport was destroyed. Access to seaports in calamity areas was also made difficult by the debris left by the storm surge. Roads and bridges were also destroyed. Power and communication services have been restored in many areas. C130 planes are now doing sunrise to sunset operations. The Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard have deployed all available naval assets, and they’re tapping civilian auxiliary units to provide additional assistance. To facilitate delivery of aid, NDRRMC has established a one-stop shop which will integrate the flow of assistance to the calamity areas from government and private organizations. Just a brief announcement: the regular meeting of the NEDA has been deferred for next week, in as much as the Cabinet members are attending to the urgency of the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts. Secretary Almendras will now give further details on government’s relief efforts. And we will address your questions afterwards. Thank you. SEC. ALMENDRAS: Thank you very much, Sonny. Good afternoon. I’m here to give you a quick briefing on some of the things that have been discussed yesterday. The President called a quick—not as quick. It was actually quite a long Cabinet meeting with some members that are directly involved in the process. This will come out to be one of the largest logistic and relief that the Philippine government has ever done in history. And the President wanted to make sure that we have aligned everything. Let me start by explaining the fact that we need to coordinate how we are going work with the international community. With the past two or three days, quite a number of heads of state have been calling the President and have talked to him, offering the aid that they want to do and asking how and what best way they can help. So, one of the things we wanna make sure is that whatever offer help, iyong tulong po na gusto nilang ibigay sa atin ay iyong talagang makakatulong. Ipaliwanag ko lang po iyong proseso para maintindihan ng mga kababayan natin and also to the rest of the international community. What we have agreed on is, all international aid coordination must start and must be coursed through DFA. Yesterday po, I issued an information bulletin on the telephone numbers and the names of the people in DFA that should be contacted by any of the other international organizations or governments or individuals who want to donate or help in the fund. Now, the process will require that once DFA gets the information, DFA will have to determine kung ano po iyong klaseng tulong na ibibigay nila. Marami po kasing klase iyon. For example, the German government sent us a team which is a self-contained team that can do search, rescue, health and medical services. As we speak, that team is now landing in Guiuan, in Samar. So, we need to determine what is the configuration or the capacity po noong teams na ipapadala nila para malaman natin kung saan natin dapat dalhin kasi naiintindihan din natin kung nasaan iyong pangangailangan. So, ang napagkasunduan po is from DFA, simultaneously, the minute they get the information, they will transmit to the appropriate agencies. For example, if it has to do with medical aid, either hospitals, medicines or whatever related to medical, it will be simultaneously refer to both the Department of Health and to NRDMMC – NDRRMC being the central point. The Department of Health will automatically determine the content of the offer, and will interact at the NDRRMC to determine where is the appropriate sites. Saan po natin dadalhin itong particular na resources na ito. Once that decision is made, then DFA will coordinate with the donor government or agency to iron out all the details. Now, ipaliwanag lang po namin kung bakit nagkakaiba iyong designation at iyong arrival. Hindi po ba noong Sabado, ipinaliwanag natin na meron po tayong dalawang forward operating centers – isa sa Tacloban; isa sa Roxas. Ipinaliwanag rin natin na meron tayong dalawang logistics centers – which is Cebu and Iloilo – purposely, para suportahan iyong operation center. Our best example po is the … recently or yesterday, we had two C-130s from Taiwan. As a matter of fact, there’s another two C-130s that are arriving at about 12:30 today. The decision on where to land is usually determined by, number one, the plane that they will be using. If the plane is very big and cannot be accommodated in Tacloban, obviously it will have to go to Cebu. Now, the other determination po is the goods that these planes carry. If the good donation is already pre-packed and ready for distribution, and it is in the correct size of the airplane po, we will entertain that it be delivered directly to Tacloban. But if the goods are not ready for distribution, therefore it needs to be repacked or re-handled or any kind of processing pa po, we do not and will not encourage that it be brought to Tacloban. Instead, we’ll bring it to Cebu because doon po sa Cebu, we will have the resources to do the repacking and whatever else is needed. And after it is handled, that’s the time we will bring it to Tacloban or to Ormoc or to whatever destination; it will be determined that it should go through. So, if a donation of goods, simultaneously, the DFA will coordinate directly with the DSWD to determine kung ano itong mga content na pinamimigay nila at saan dapat dadalhin; and also with the NDRRMC. And the decision on where to bring these goods will happen, again, at the NDRRMC. This explains the process po. Now, to help alleviate the challenges of bringing goods and people into the Philippines, we also decided na as much as possible, all incoming international flights will not be encouraged into the Metro Manila Airports. Bakit po? ‘Di ba congested na rin po iyong Ninoy Aquino International Airport, so ayaw nating dagdagan iyong problema na iyon especially because these are very large planes. I think, we had two 747s that landed in Cebu yesterday. I think, we have a Starlifter coming in either tonight or tomorrow morning from Israel. So, kung papayagan natin na mag-landing ito sa Manila, lalo lang ho maku-congest. So, what we’ve decided on is, we are going to set up a special processing center in Cebu. So, the Bureau of Immigration will have a team there to process all the immigration requirements. For example, there is an offer from the Israeli government to send a 200 man contingent, so we need to make sure that we process all those people as fast as we can. Nakakahiya naman po paghihintayin pa natin sila. In Cebu, will have a team from the Bureau of Immigration. I talked to Commissioner Yuson already about that. Now, if these people are going to be bringing medicines, then we also need make sure that the Food and Drug Administration is appropriately represented. Hindi naman po natin i-inspeksyunin. It’s really just for record keeping and processing. So, that will happen very quickly. And if they are coming in with doctors and with nurses or other professionals, again, we will have to process them through the Philippine Professional Regulations Commission. So, para ho hindi na sila magtagal pa, meron po tayong sine-set up na one-stop shop doon sa Cebu para ma-process lahat, para mapabilis po iyong, number one, pasok ng goods nila; number two, pasok ng equipment and ng mga tao nila. So, hopefully, that answers the question on how we will coordinate and what we are doing to process the international donations. Of course, there will be donations in cash. We issued, again, an information, the account numbers and the recommended interaction with DSWD and the consular offices po.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 01:10:25 +0000
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