PRESIDENT ROODRIGO Duterte thanked members of his Cabinet for their “prompt response” in assisting locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and sending them back to their respective hometowns.
“I'd like to thank everybody sa itong ating gobyerno (in our government) -- that's really the Cabinet members working for the prompt response that you undertook to alleviate the plight of the stranded Filipinos. And nakakaawa talaga (They are really pitiful) and it took you just about two days to solve the problem,” Duterte said in a televised meeting with some Cabinet members aired early Wednesday.
He specifically expressed gratitude to Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade for his “fast action” in providing modes of transport for LSIs.
“Alam mo, iyan lang ang maibigay natin sa tao, iyong hindi masyado mahirapan ang mamamayan (You know, that’s all we can give the people, to make their life a little easier) and whenever there is a problem, we try to solve it as fast as it can ever be done,” Duterte said.
Tugade earlier assured that waiting passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) would be taken care of and given regular food supply during their stay there.
This after the President, in a public address on June 30, ordered him to provide more seats for waiting passengers because there are children and pregnant women who have no place to sit on.
Duterte said the thought of passengers standing while waiting for their flights has been bothering him “the whole night.”
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año told the President during the meeting on Tuesday that over the weekend, more than 4,000 LSIs have been assisted through the government’s Hatid Tulong program.
Año said on Monday and Tuesday, more than 5,000 LSIs were also sent home either by plane or ship.
Only about 1,400 LSIs who continue to receive food and other forms of assistance from the government are left in Metro Manila, he said.
No more LSIs are sleeping on the streets, Año said, adding that they are temporarily accommodated at the Villamor Air Base Elementary School, Philippine Army Wellness Center, and other areas. (By Azer Parrocha)
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