And here we thought thing were going well between them.
“On Monday, Dec 9, in a post-disaster assessment at the Senate, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez accused the national government of engaging in partisan politics by failing to conduct rescue operations immediately after Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the city,” reports ABS-CBNnews.com.
One of the points Romualdez raised was the fact that “his pleas to national government officials to deploy more soldiers to Tacloban were ignored despite reports of widespread looting in the city.”
Romualdez added that he told Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras that he needed more foot soldiers to assess the damage left behind by Yolanda and to rescue possible survivors in the wreckage. However, as Romualdez claimed, “Constantly, as the days went on I was asking for support, more foot soldiers to scour the area, to secure the places and conduct a rescue of the people. I was never given that.”
Then, according to the report, in one meeting, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Mar Roxas asked Romualdez to “legalize everything” by passing an ordinance allowing the national government to conduct relief and rescue efforts in the city.
Romualdez then claimed that he told Roxas, “Why is it illegal? As far as I know, the President is the president of the Philippines and he is also president of Tacloban City. I don’t see anywhere in the law, that you need a letter or ordinance from me for you to come in and do what you are doing.” Roxas allegedly told him, “You have to remember: we have to be very careful because you are a Romualdez and the president is an Aquino.”
Aquino, Roxas, and all the other officials Romualdez slammed for politicking have not issued their official statements on the matter.
Photo is a screengrab from an ANC video clip
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