Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor ‘Jonvic’ Remulla lauded local government units (LGUs) for what he described as quick and efficient preemptive evacuation that eventuall led to few casualties during the typhoon "Pepito" onslaught. 

“Dito sa limang sunod na bagyo, halos wala po tayong casualty as compared to Kristine (In the five consecutive typhoons, we almost did not have any casualty compared to (typhoon) Kristine,’’ Remulla stressed.

Remulla pointed out that the biggest lesson brought about by the successive typhoons is for the “LGUs to be firm in implementing forced evacuation and for the public to heed local authorities.’’

Earlier, Remulla defended the local officials of Nueva Ecija, saying that they cannot be blamed for the two casualties during typhoon ‘Pepito’ as efforts to evacuate them proved futile despite pleas to bring them to safer grounds  

“Nang umakyat na tubig ng ilog natangay sila. Hindi na po ito kasalanan ng local officials talagang pinipilit silang umalis pero matigas talaga ulo at natangay sila na rumaragasa tubig ng ilog (When the water in the river rose, they were swept away. This is not the fault of the local officials who were forcing them to leave the place but they were stubborn and they were eventually washed away by the rushing water in the river),’’ Remulla explained.

Remulla also asked the public to take the government’s emergency response appeals, particularly the call for evacuation, with extreme seriousness and consider the current weather disturbance occurrences as the new normal.

He also noted that the motorcycle rider who was electrocuted due to the dangling live wire cannot be accounted as a typhoon Pepito-related casualty.