A team of Cabinet secretaries arrived in Antique on Wednesday for an assessment and briefing on the extent of the damage of Severe Tropical Storm Paeng and also to guarantee the province of assistance coming from the national government.

“We will assure that the support of the national government ay nandito po nakatutok sa inyo (is focused here),” said National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director and National Defense Officer-in-Charge, Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr., during the briefing.

Joining Faustino were Secretaries Benjamin Abalos of the Interior and Local Government and Manuel Bonoan of Public Works and Highways, Social Welfare Undersecretary Allan Tanjusay, and Office of Civil Defense Administrator, Undersecretary Raymundo Ferrer.

Faustino said the Department of Health has been informed to augment hygiene kits and medicines while the DSWD would be sending more food and non-food items.

Those with partially damaged houses will be provided with assistance while those whose houses were destroyed will be reassessed if they need to be relocated and will be referred to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

Coordination is also being done to immediately airlift water purification systems from Manila and for the Philippine Navy to deploy a ship to the province to bring in goods, water, and other needs, especially for the residents of Maningning, Batbatan, and Mararison, all island barangays in the Municipality of Culasi, which were isolated at the height of Paeng’s onslaught due to strong and high waves.

Bonoan said they would be constructing a temporary cut-off channel to connect the municipalities of Bugasong and Lauan-an and to resume mobility after the collapse of the Paliwan Bridge, which links the two towns.

Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao during the briefing appealed for their province “not to be left behind” in terms of assistance.

“Our province has rendered itself into an island. We were cut-off in the north by the Paliwan River (bridge), which is a major road linking north and south of our province and we were cut off from Iloilo, which is the vital commerce of our province. We get mostly our kalakal (goods) in Iloilo and the Oyungan (Bridge in Iloilo) has also been cut.We are resorting to rationing of our gasoline and we have instructed our businessmen to give only PHP500 per car but has created panic. We hope we can rectify that already,” she said.

She added that hospitals are also in need of oxygen.

The municipalities of Tibiao, Lauan, Patnongon, and Sebaste are all under a state of calamity while the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) Council will convene to declare the same in the entire province, according to Antique PDRRM Officer Broderick Train in his presentation during the briefing.

As of Tuesday, some 43,853 families are affected by Paeng in the province’s 500 barangays.

The province reported 10 casualties and three missing as of Wednesday.

Before they visited Antique, the Cabinet secretaries also met with the local officials of Capiz province for the assessment. (PNA)