The Duterte administration will work "as fast as possible" to rehabilitate the provinces devastated by typhoon "Odette".

Thus, said Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles in a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 22 wherein he was asked whether or not the rehabilitation works could be finished before the end of President Duterte's term.

"We will work on this as fast as possible. Obviously this administration is only up to June 30, 2022...So we commit to work hard and fast and we will try to complete whatever we can," Nograles said.

"Given the extent of the damage, given all of the recovery and rehabilitation efforts that we need to put in place, begin, start and complete within six months, kung anong makakayanan po natin ay gagawin po natin ang lahat ng kaya nating gawin (everything that's possible for us to do, we will do them)," he noted.

It was only Tuesday when the Chief Executive placed Regions IV-B, VI, VII, VIII, X and XIII under a state of calamity due to the widespread damage caused there by Odette--the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.

Authorities are still assessing the total damage incurred by the coutnry from the pre-Christmas disaster.

His statements notwithstanding, Nograles tried to give more perspective regarding this new rehabilitation task of the national government.

"We are facing this challenge plus the challenge of totally eradicating COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) plus the threat of other variants. At the end of the day kailangan po nating magtulungan dito (we need to help each other). Hindi lang pwede na nakaatang lamang sa balikat ng iilan, o ng pamahalaan lamang. Kinakailangan po natin ng suporta at tulong ng bawat isang Pilipino para dito (The responsibility should not be merely placed on the shoulders of a few, or on the government's alone. We need the support and help of each and every Filipino to do this)," he said.

At any rate, Nograles was still optimistic that the administration would get significant work done in the limited time that it has left.

"But at the end of the day, once we turn this over to the next administration ay marami na po kaming nasimulan, may mga natapos na, may mga nagawa na (we will have started a lot, finished a lot, and accomplished a lot). And sana ay ipagpatuloy lamang ng susunod na administration ang lahat ng ito (And hopefully the next administration will just continue them)," he said.

Duterte, a former longtime Davao City mayor, took over the presidency in 2016.