MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo visited last Thursday the remote barangay in Camarines Sur headed by the chairman before whom she took her oath as the second highest official of the country in 2016.
“Remember the barangay captain before whom I took my oath into office as VP? He is Rolando Coner of Punta Tarawal, a small, far away barangay along the coast of San Miguel Bay which can be reached only by boat,” she wrote on her Facebook account on Friday night.
“We visited his barangay to check how everyone was doing after the typhoon,” she added.
The barangay was one of those heavily affected by Super Typhoon Rolly when it made landfall in Bicol last weekend.
Coner, the Vice President said, was apologetic as he did not know they were coming. Her office provided relief goods for the residents, which they distributed with the help of the barangay chairman.
“He is that man in green, all covered in mud, because he was cleaning the muck out of the barangay hall brought about by the floods,” said Robredo, referring to Coner.
The Vice President said the residents “were profuse with gratitude that they already had a sea wall,” making it safer for them whenever there are typhoons.
The building that her office helped build through the support of private partners also survived Rolly and was undamaged.
“They said that had they known it would be that sturdy, they would not have evacuated to the mainland anymore. They were recounting their horrors when the evacuation center they were in suffered damages during the onslaught,” the Vice President said in her post.
Swearing in before barangay captains was first allowed for winners of the 2016 elections following the approval of Republic Act 10755 earlier that year.
Two barangay captains administered the oath of Robredo in 2016: Coner and Regina Celeste San Miguel of Barangay Mariana in Quezon City, where her office was located.
At the time, Punta Tarawal was described as the “smallest, farthest and poorest” barangay of the third district of Camarines Sur that Robredo represented at the House of Representatives prior to her election as Vice President.
Over the past week, Robredo visited various areas in Bicol heavily affected by Rolly, including Catanduanes, Albay and her home province of Camarines Sur.