Marcos expresses sympathy to Kristine victims

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Friday expressed sympathies for the victims of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine.

''I would like to express my sympathy for our fellow Filipinos who have become victims by Tropical Storm Kristine. We are grateful for the resilience, leadership and proactive measures undertaken by our local government units which has saved many, many lives,'' Marcos said in a speech.

Marcos also lauded local government units, which act as first responders during times of calamities. 

''And they have as usual, come through, and have done everything that is possible, that is humanly possible to do to provide relief, to provide rescue and to provide assistance to all those who are in peril,'' he said. 

The President guaranteed that the national government is working round the clock to provide all the assistance needed by the LGUs, particularly those affected by the bad weather. 

''Unfortunately Kristine is just a sample of how frequent our storms and cyclones have become. It used to be a hundred year occurrence is now happening at greater frequency and ferocity due to climate change,'' Marcos said. 

He mentioned that assets have already been deployed, especially in the Bicol region that was severely hit by Kristine, submerging a number of towns and municipalities. 

''In any case, I am happy, I am able to say that a C130 left Manila 6:49 today and with the following assets, the satellite communication, gen sets, gen sets for the satellite communication, water filtration units and other personnel,'' Marcos said.

The Philippine military's Black Hawk helicopters in Legazpi will also be deployed to Naga to help in the relief missions, according to Marcos. 

According to Police Regional Office 5 (PRO-5), the reported death toll, subject for validation, has climbed to 26 on Friday from the previous day's 20. 

The PRO-5 also said that three people were reported missing and nine were reported injured in the region as of 3 a.m.

The PRO-5 also said that three people were reported missing and nine were reported injured in the region as of 3 a.m.

A total of 314,309 people (106,303 families) were staying in evacuation centers as 586 barangays were flooded, most of them, or 540, were in Camarines Sur.

The police also recorded 22 landslide incidents — 13 in Albay, four each in Camarines Sur and Sorsogon, and one in Camarines Norte.

In its 5 a.m. weather bulletin, PAGASA said Kristine was spotted 125 kilometers west northwest of Bacnotan, La Union packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour near the center, gustiness of up to 115 kph.

The severe tropical storm was tracking the west northwestward direction at 25 kph.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News