President Duterte has described his experience of assessing the damage caused by typhoon "Odette" in the various provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao as "soul-bruising".
But it's the fate of one particular coastal city in Negros Occidental--Sipalay--that left the Chief Executive shaken.
"It has been a...I use the word, soul-bruising past few days. I have seen the devastation, the loss of lives and the destruction of property. These are the things that we really cannot avoid," Duterte said during his pre-taped "Talk to the People" public briefing on late Monday night, Dec. 27.
He then recalled the reported grim fate of Sipalay residents during his visit to Negros Occidental last week.
"Ang Kabankalan wala talaga (Kabankalan didn't really sustain damage). But few kilometers upwards nandoon yung lugar ng Sipalay (there was the area of Sipalay). And what is really very scary was that--I was with Secretary Año...tumingin kami sa itaas (when we look upward), Kabankalan was--there was movement. Almost normal," Duterte said.
"Pero sabi niya sa Sipalay...akala namin (But he said in Sipalay...we thought) everything was all right. So pabalik kami (on our way back) when we landed doon sa ano...sinabi (they told me) when I was having a conference with government people, doon ko nalaman na--Sipalay (that's when I learned that Sipalay), it was almost a quiet town, it's a city actually...pero akala namin wala (we thought nothing happened there).
"Ang damage pala nila, at hindi kaagad nalaman, those living sa coastal, tapos pagbaha, may mga bahay-bahay doon (We didn't learn about it immediately, but the damage to those living along the coast, the houses there), little did we realize that so many people were carried away and homes were destroyed," the President said in a somber tone.
"Even during that day it was only later that we were informed na sa (that in) Sipalay, maraming na-damage, pati tao (there were a lot of damage and lives lost). So kayong taga-(So to those who are from) Sipalay, we convey to you our deepest condolences. Lalo na yung isang pamilya, dalawang pamilya na (especially to the one or two families that were)...
"So it's I said, a soul-bruising experience for us all. The only way we can do that is how fast we can go back to normalcy," Duterte said.
Duterte reached Kabankalan on Dec. 20, or four days after Odette made its first landfall on Siargao.
Sipalay is a fourth class component city in the province of Negros Occidental. It has a population of 70,070 people, according to the 2015 census.
The President didn't provide any figures as to the extent of damage or the death toll from Sipalay.
Referring to the destruction caused by Odette, Duterte said: "We can only respond appropriately and just, maybe, there should be no other typhoon, for at least a respite of six months so that we can alleviate the situation."