Bongbong Marcos to finish US trip, says gov’t on top of situation in quake-hit areas

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos talks with members of the media who are joining his trip in San Francisco, California. (Photo from NESTOR CORRALES /Philippine Daily Inquirer)

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos on Saturday said there was no need to cut short his United States (US) trip following the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Mindanao.

Speaking to reporters in San Francisco, the President said said he was happy that government agencies “do not need directives from me anymore.”

“They know what to do,” he told journalists covering him at the Asia Pacific Cooperation Summit.

“Well, if there’s something that needs to be done that cannot be done by anybody but myself, I will go home,” he said.

“But as I said, they know what to do,” he added.

According to him, “we tried to organize the government in such a way that these are standard operating procedures already,” referring to the actions government must do following a disaster.

“You don’t have to question what do we do next. Everything is ready,” he said, adding that National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Interior and Local Government, and other agencies have been reporting to him about the situation in the provinces hit by the earthquake.

He said government would “keep looking and see and determine, and assess what the damage really has been.”

The President left the Philippines on November 14 (Tuesday) to attend the APEC Summit, an annual gathering of leaders from the block’s 21-member economies.

After his trip in San Francisco, the President has flown to Los Angeles on Saturday.

He is scheduled to return to Manila on November 20 (Monday).