(First UPDATE) Office of Civil Defense says preparations have been ongoing amid string of tropical cyclones hitting Luzon

MANILA, Philippines – Before Super typhoon Pepito (Man-yi) landing in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has told all government agencies to “prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said on Saturday, November 16.

OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said in a news forum that Marcos and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. wants agencies to prepare not only for areas directly affected by Pepito, but for other regions that could potentially be affected as well.

“Ang usapan namin diyan, iyan din ang ang-uutos ni Presidente Bongbong Marcos and you Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, did natin iyong worst case scenario planning. Mas maganda na iyong sobra ang preparation kaysa magkulang“, said Nepomuceno.

(Our discussion, which was also what President Bongbong Marcos and Secretary Gilbert Teodoro ordered, was that we needed to do worst-case scenario planning. It’s better to over-prepare than under-prepare.)

Marcos, who ordered the evacuation of families living in coastal areas to higher ground, told agencies managing evacuation centers to ensure these were safe and far away from flood- and landslide-prone areas.

Nepomuceno, meanwhile, stressed the need to keep an inventory of existing evacuation centers, such as schools converted into temporary shelters.

OCD said personnel have been mobilized in Eastern Visayas, Bicol, Calabarzon, Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Cagayan area, Ilocos and Cordillera Administrative Region.

Nepomuceno also said in a separate briefing that the government had already prepositioned air, land and sea assets.

“Kaya’t dito sa bagyo na ito, pampito na ho ito eh — simulan natin sa Julian, Kristine, Leon, Marce, Nika, Ofel. Pampito itong si Pepito. Kaya’t iyong preparation natin, hindi ngayon ho sinisimulan iyan. Kailangan ng atting mga kababayan na ito ay nakadugtong doon sa anim na mga naunang bagyo“, he said.

(This storm is the seventh to come — starting with Julian, Kristine, Leon, Marce, Nika, Ofel. Pepito is the seventh. So our preparations don’t just start now. Our countrymen should know that these preparations have been going on since the first six storms.)

At least 11,448 families or 35,335 individuals were reported to be staying in temporary shelters. Nepomuceno advised people who stayed in evacuation centers after the previous storms to refrain from returning to their homes.

Pepito is the Philippines’ 16th tropical cyclone of 2024, and the sixth in less than a month. It is seen to hit Eastern Visayas and large parts of Luzon the hardest.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA) forecast sees Pepito as “more likely” to make landfall in Catanduanes on Saturday evening, November 16 or early Sunday morning, November 17. But the landfall may still occur in Camarines Sur, Albay, Quezon or Aurora.

The local government of Catanduanes announced a mandatory evacuation policy on Saturday morning.

Luzon is still reeling from the earlier storms that had already devastated dozens of cities with floods, heavy rains and landslides.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, a situation report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the combined effects of tropical cyclones Nika, Ofel and Pepito have affected over 110,400 families or 424,000 individuals. Over 57,800 have been displaced.

The three tropical cyclones have also caused over P320 million worth of infrastructure damage, P855,000 worth of agriculture and 62.21 hectares of crops. – Rappler.com