Former President and Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday visited her congressional district to join the relief operations for typhoon victims.
At the same time, Arroyo vowed to push for the immediate passage of the proposed measure creating the Disaster Management Department, which is also mentioned as priority agenda of the government that was mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte during his last State of the Nation Address.
She said the passage of the bill will be among the top priority of her leadership.
Arroyo, together with Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, led the distribution of relief goods to the residents of Barangay Sebitanan in Sasmuan, Pampanga.
There were around 663 families affected in Sebitanan alone. Arroyo explained that they identified the areas gravely affected by the typhoon to be able to assist them as soon as possible.
“I looked at the reports of the most devastated areas. We identified about 10 districts and said, we assist the 10 districts immediately,” said Arroyo.
“We start with the relief goods, maybe, medical [assistance] din. That’s why we have the NDCC [National Disaster Coordinating Council] meeting on Monday so we can find out from them what are the plans for rehabilitation and check them out,” she added.