Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Monday lauded local government units (LGUs) for their quick and efficient preemptive evacuation of residents which led to only a few casualties during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Pepito.

“Dito sa limang sunod na bagyo, halos wala po tayong casualty as compared to Kristine,” Remulla said during his interview aired over PTV-4. “Sa tingin ko, ito na ‘yung pinakamagandang response ever sa history ng Pilipinas,” he added.

He said LGUs in the affected areas closely monitored the situation on the ground and oversaw the disaster management efforts in their localities.

“Napakalaking bagay ng bahagi ng local governments dito. Sila talaga ‘yung siyang nanguna, sila talaga ‘yung first responders, sila ang nanguna sa trabaho para sa evacuation. Sila naglagay sa mga relief sites,” he said.

He also lauded the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) which deployed over 20k personnel to assist the LGUs in conducting the evacuation efforts. “Dapat i-commend ang mga ito dahil despite the dangerous situation ay on standby sila,” he said.

He said the biggest lesson in the successive tropical cyclones is for the LGUs to be firm in implementing forced evacuation and for the public to heed local authorities.

“Kung ayaw nilang umalis ay tanggalin na sa bahay nila imbes na mamatay. At ‘pag sinabi po ng ating mga awtoridad na evacuate, please evacuate,” he stressed.