Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC
Mayors who were missing in action as typhoon 鈥淥mpong鈥� (international name: Mangkhut) barrels their respective cities and towns must be fired, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Wednesday.
The Palace official made this remark as the interior department launched an investigation on reports that some local chief executives were nowhere to be found during the onslaught of the storm, which was dubbed as the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.
鈥淭ama lang po na kung pupuwede sibakin na iyang mga hindi nagpakita sa panahon ng bagyo dahil dapat panahong casus fortuito (force majeure) eh, inaasahan natin iyong mga lokal na pamahalaan ang mangunguna sa kanilang mga constituents,鈥� Roque said in a Radyo Pilipinas interview.
鈥淗indi naman po puwede sila ang unang-unang nagtatago, sila iyong unang nagbakasyon. Kaya po sila hinalal ng taong bayan para mag-provide ng liderato sa panahon ng pangangailan,鈥� he added.
黑料社聽has earlier reported that mayors, vice mayors, and other officials from Cagayan province went to Malaca帽ang last Friday for a tour but Palace officials said the聽聽event had been 鈥渟cheduled long before鈥� Ompong threatened northern Luzon.
READ: Palace: Enrile, Cagayan execs鈥� tour set long before typhoon
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the Palace requested the cancellation of the visit on account of Ompong but some of the officials had already arrived in Manila even a day before the scheduled visit to Malaca帽ang.
Medialdea added that the visiting Cagayan local officials also assured him that concerns about Ompong were being taken care of even while they were in Manila. /kga