MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday welcomed the additional $1 million humanitarian aid from the United States government for those affected by the powerful typhoons as he met with visiting Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin 3rd in Malacañang.
Austin extended his “condolences, thoughts, and prayers to all those who’ve been disadvantaged by these six significant storms that have taken place in a very short period of time.”
“Mr. President, I have authorized US troops and all the Philippine forces to provide life-saving aid to the Filipino people. The US has also secured another million dollars in urgent humanitarian aid and that will enhance the work of the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the World Food Program,” Austin told Marcos.
The US official, who visited the country last July with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, lauded Marcos for his decision to utilize all nine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites for disaster response.
“Prepositioning supplies, food, and other elements, other personal elements in times of urgent need. It would enable us to serve the Filipino people much faster, much more efficient. And that your vision has come true. So, we’re glad we’re a part of that,” he said.
Marcos stressed “how important the EDCA sites have become” in the rollout of rescue and relief efforts in the wake of calamities.
“They served as staging areas when we know that a storm is coming, we prepositioned as many assets, material as we can, as close as possible so as not to damage the actual resources that we have. And the EDCA sites became staging areas because right after the storm, many areas can only be reached by helicopter. And many roads are closed because of landslides and therefore, even the main capital of provinces can only be reached by aircraft,” the chief executive said.
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