President Duterte has suggested typhoon-stricken residents of Siargao to turn fallen coconut trees into coco lumber, which they can use to rebuild their homes with.

In a speech before the victims of typhoon “Odette” on Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte on Wednesday, Dec. 22, the President mused at the possibility of rebuilding the communities with the use of knocked-down coconut trees, of which there were apparently many.

“It’s wood so you can use up all of it when you have the materials, you just need materials for a roof now. If you can rebuild your houses using coconut lumber, then that’s okay. After all, it will be a while before the next typhoon comes,” he said in Bisaya.

The only problem will be the roof, the President noted, though he joked that he would buy big umbrellas “so your houses will fold and unfold, too.”

Duterte proposed that government buy the fallen coconut trees, as well as use a chainsaw to get those that remained standing after Odette plowed through the province.

“Who owns that? Sinong may-ari niyang niyog diyan? Nandito sila (Who owns that coconut? Are they here)? If they refuse, we’ll use a chainsaw on them too,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.

READ: Duterte wants closer look at state of Siargao, Dinagat Islands

The President added that it “would be much better” if the owner of the trees would instead give them “for free to help his countrymen.”

Duterte apologized to the people of Siargao for passing them by on his way to Argao town in Cebu, saying he needed to visit the hardest-hit areas first.

“Help will arrive, I promise you. That’s all I came here for. Please forgive me because I passed by you on my way to Argao because I asked the military which areas were the hardest hit, where the most people were hungry,” he said.

Duterte also visited the typhoon-hit Dinagat Islands on Wednesday.

He previously visited Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Occidental to distribute relief assistance to those displaced by the typhoon.

Typhoon Odette left 258 dead, officials said. It first made landfall in Siargao Island on Thursday afternoon. Its ninth and final landfall was in Palawan on Friday afternoon.

At least 568 were injured while 600,000 people were displaced from their homes. Officials recorded P1.15 billion in agricultural losses and P2.5 billion worth of damage to infrastructure.