Marcos on Mindanao quake: I'll go home if something cannot be done without me

SAN FRANCISCO, California, USA - President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Saturday (PH Time) that he is willing to go home if there are measures that only he can execute following the strong earthquake in Mindanao.

Marcos is currently in the United States for his participation in the 2023 APEC Summit and his working visits in Los Angeles, California and Honolulu, Hawaii.

“Well, If there’s something that needs to be done that cannot be done by anybody but myself, I will go home,” Marcos said during the Kapihan with Media.

Marcos, however, said “government agencies do not need directives from me anymore. They know what to do.”

“But as I said, alam na nila ang gagawin eh (they already know what to do). That’s my hope – we tried to organize the government in such a way that these are standard operating procedures already. You don’t have to question what do we do next, nakasulat na lahat ‘yan (all that has been written down),” he said.

Marcos said he received reports that there were already two casualties following the powerful quake.

“So far I think we have reported two casualties and the damage to infrastructure, to buildings is as you would expect. But it is actually less than we had hoped — than we have feared rather, is less than we have feared,” Marcos said.

He said power and communication lines were not that adversely affected.

“So as you can imagine these are all very preliminary. Hindi naman niya — in the major cities, hindi nawala ang kuryente, hindi nawala ang communication, hindi naman naapektuhan ang serbisyo ng bawat LGU [local government unit],” he said.

(In the major cities, power did not go out, communication [lines] were not down, the services of LGUs were not affected.)

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Davao Occidental on Friday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) reported.

It said the quake was tectonic in origin and was felt at 4:14 p.m.

PHIVOLCS initially put the earthquake's magnitude at 7.2.

A couple in General Santos City died after the concrete wall of a structure collapsed as a result of the temblor.—KG, GMA Integrated News