(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte is set to visit areas affected by Taal Volcano today, Tuesday, even if his doctor had advised him against it due to health risks.
Duterte, on Monday, Jan. 13, told reporters that he would give financial assistance to the residents affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.
The President even tried to make a joke of his doctor’s advice for him not to visit areas affected by the volcano’s eruption because of the dangers associated with breathing the sulfur ashfall, among other things.
“Kainin ko pa ‘yang ashfall na ‘yan (I’ll even eat that ashfall),” Duterte said.
He said that soldiers, including the Marines, have already been sent to the area to help out since the explosion on Sunday, and that there were also supplies given.
We have anticipated it and pati ‘yung mga Marines ko, ‘yung mga sundalo ko nandoon [my Marines and my soldiers are there.] And the resources, I said, are there. And ‘yung mga [the] forward supplies, they were carried over there 24 hours since it first exploded,” he said.
The President will be accompanied by his former long-time aide, now Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go.
On Monday, the plane carrying Duterte and Go flew over areas affected by the volcano’s eruption, en route from Davao City to Manila, as the President said he wanted to see the condition of these areas.
His plane was the first to land at the airport in Manila since flight operations were closed on Sunday and Monday morning due to the Taal volcano’s intense activities.
