MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday responded to criticism that he was nowhere to be seen over the weekend when the world's strongest storm this 2020 was battering parts of the country that had left millions affected and 16 people dead so far.
Duterte was in his hometown Davao City for the Undas weekend, which coincided with the scheduled landfall of then Super Typhoon 'Rolly' over parts of Bicol region and Catanduanes.
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His absence at a time of an ongoing crisis did not sit well with many on social media, especially when Cabinet and disaster officials held a briefing hours after Rolly hit Catanduanes and Albay with Duterte not in sight.
"Itong mga ugok naman sinasabing wala ako [but] I was just waiting for the typhoon to pass," the President said in a meeting with officials that stretched on for hours. "Kung wala kayong patay, okay lang. Kaming mayroon, kailangan umuwi kami doon sa amin."
(These stupid ones are saying I wasn't there, but I was just waiting for the typhoon to pass. If you don't have any dead relatives then good for you. But those who have like us, we have to go home.)
Rolly entered the Philippines by October 29, with weather agencies abroad making early warnings that it may soon develop into a super typhoon.
Weather agencies abroad have warned as early as October 29, when Rolly entered the Philippines, that it may soon develop into a super typhoon, raising fears that a repeat of the catastrophic Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013 may happen.
"Ang mga papeles pinadala niyo tapos pirmahan ko at ipadala ulit. Do you want me to stand doon sa white sand ni Roy Cimatu just to show that I am here?" Duterte added.
(The papers that needed to be signed were sent and I returned them. Do you want me to stand at DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu's white sand to show that I am here?)
Questions on Duterte's whereabouts originated from a Twitter hashtag "NasaanAngPangulo" that trended on the platform amid Rolly's onslaught. Those who came to the defense of the President held a similar reasoning with him — that being there wouldn't stop the storm.
But critics have since said such logic sorely missed the point: that leadership demanded presence, especially for a president who had remarked that a true leader is someone who always "stays where the crisis is."
"To ask #NasaanAngPangulo is not to demand the impossible that he stop Rolly," said lawyer Florin Hilbay, a former solicitor general and senatorial bet. "It's to ask: where's the highest official of the country being battered by the strongest typhoon of the year?"
"In a time of crisis, presence is a sign of leadership. Absence is abandonment of duty," he added.
The president on Monday afternoon held an aerial inspection of the extent of Rolly's damage as well as visited typhoon victims in Guinobatan in Albay.
His arrival came when Vice President Leni Robredo also paid a visit to areas hit by the super typhoon in Camarines Sur, Albay and Catanduanes. Robredo, leaving Manila before dawn, distributed relief goods as well to victims.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar in the same briefing said that the initial estimate of damage brought by Rolly is at P5.6 billion.
The super typhoon has left many in evacuation sites as hundreds of thousands fled as a precaution, and over two million have also been reportedly affected by Rolly.