Roxas assures Yolanda victims of ample relief goods

As of Nov. 19, he said that more than 860,000 relief goods were already distributed.

"Kung last week nasa baso-baso, tapos naging tabo-tabo, ngayon nasa balde-balde na tayo," Roxas said.

Roxas said the logjam in the ports of Matnog and Bulan had been resolved, paving the way for the smooth transition and delivery of truckloads of much-needed food and relief goods to the typhoon-devastated areas.

Roxas, who is also concurrent vice chairman for preparedness of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, earlier deployed hundreds of police personnel to Tacloban City and other nearby typhoon-hit areas to maintain peace and order.

On day 2 in the aftermath of Yolanda, Roxas, upon request of certain local officials in the Tacloban-Samar areas, ordered the Philippine National Police  to temporarily impose a curfew and setting up of checkpoints to thwart reported looting and other forms of criminality in the typhoon-hit areas.

Few days after the typhoon, Roxas said the government’s three main priorities were to restore peace and order, bring in relief goods and start collecting cadavers.

"We have already achieved number one and two. The priority now is the recovery and possible identification of the cadavers still buried somewhere or among the rubbles left behind by Yolanda," he said. 

To date, Roxas majority of the areas in Samar and Leyte and other typhoon-hit areas have entered the recovery stage as local business activities and market transaction begin to normalize.