Ten mayors from Northern Luzon, Mimaropa, the Bicol region and the Visayas are being ordered to explain why they were not at their posts when Typhoon “Rolly” ripped through the country Sunday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Tuesday.
"I cannot give their names yet until investigations are conducted and cases are filed against them," Año said in an interview with GMA News Online.
"DILG will issue show cause orders to these mayors. After validating their answers, investigation may proceed.”
Año said the mayors could be held liable for dereliction of duty and gross negligence, as well as violation of the DILG memorandum circular requiring 100 percent presence of local chief executives before, during, and after the typhoon.
The Palace, meanwhile, said President Rodrigo Duterte was as well as “anyone his age,” in response to social media comments on his absence at the height of Rolly, which fueled speculation about his health.
The President was seen Monday meeting residents of Guinobatan town in Albay, that was pummeled by Rolly.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President—who was seen without a mask–merely wanted to show that the government is ready to assist Albay folk affected by the typhoon, even if it meant exposing himself to the threat of COVID-19.
Duterte, 75, has said he was told by his doctor he was at risk of developing cancer from Barrett’s esophagus, an inflammation of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
“I’m not sure if that was intentional or it (the mask) was accidentally removed. But what is important is that the President went to Guinobatan, which was among the areas badly hit by Typhoon Rolly,” Roque said.
The President on Monday led an aerial survey over Bicol and later appeared before residents of Guinobatan town, where Rolly spawned landslides of volcanic ash from nearby Mt. Mayon.