Mayor orders preparations ahead of Typhoon Chedeng

Mayor Beng Climaco yesterday ordered the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) to make the necessary preparations ahead of the expected landfall of Typhoon Chedeng in Mindanao, particularly in Zamboanga City, tomorrow, March 20.

Climaco said she will have to convene the CDRRMO the soonest time possible to map out any measures to prevent any untoward incidents as a consequence of the upcoming typhoon “Chedeng” which, according to the weather agency, had already entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) yesterday and was headed towards the city’s direction.

In the meantime, the chief executive has also assured the public that security in the city has been tightened, especially in all places of worships, following Friday’s attacks on two mosques in New Zealand that killed nearly 50 people and injured several others.

“We do not want the incident to happen in the city. Thus, the local government will be institutionalizing a security response for all religious places of worships—be it a mosque, be it a temple or a church,” Climaco stressed during the press briefing in City Hall yesterday.

She said the Philippine National Police together with Task Force Zamboanga, Coast Guard, the military’s 11th IB, MBLT11 and PDEA in coordination with the CDRRMO will create an incident ground commanders and subsidiary stakeholders to ensure that security in Zamboanga City is tightened.

“The is a preponderance of force and there is also a preponderance of security for Zamboanga,” Climaco said.(Vic Larato)