Ex-rivals Marcos, Robredo reunite to handle Naga Metropolis’s flood disaster

‘Probably the most political factor that we did immediately: I wore my pink socks,’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says after assembly Naga Metropolis Mayor Leni Robredo

NAGA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday, February 21, met his closest and most bitter rival in two nationwide elections, Naga Metropolis Mayor Leni Robredo, in a coliseum named after her husband (whose passing led to her personal political profession) and situated alongside Benigno and Corazon Aquino Avenue.

A easy and somber welcome greeted the President on Saturday on the Jesse M. Robredo Coliseum (JMRC) right here. The assembly’s ambiance carried the anticipated stress of high-security protocols and a touch of awkwardness, given the 2 public officers’ historical past of political rivalry.

But the President insisted there was no speak of politics through the go to. He stated the go to was meant to brainstorm options for the flooding issues in Naga Metropolis and the remainder of Camarines Sur.

“Alam mo, hindi namin pinag-uusapan ‘yun. Alam mo, I believe the mayor will agree with me na serbisyo muna bago politika (You realize, we don’t speak about that. I believe the mayor will agree with me that it’s service first earlier than politics). Probably the most political factor that we did immediately: I wore my pink socks…. My pink socks, in honor of Mayor Leni,” Marcos stated.

Marcos’ go to got here days after Vice President Sara Duterte introduced her 2028 presidential bid. Forward of Saturday, Robredo denied discussing an alliance with Marcos.

“Ang tigsasabi baga kaya sakuya dapat mag-decide. Haloy na ako naka-decide (Others have been telling me that I ought to resolve. I had determined a very long time in the past),” Robredo stated on Friday, February 20.

The previous vice chairman, who misplaced in her 2022 presidential run to Marcos, stated she was agency in her promise to prioritize Naga for the remainder of her time period.

Robredo received the town’s mayoral race in a landslide victory in Might 2025, following her husband’s footsteps and likewise making historical past as Naga Metropolis’s first feminine mayor.

Other than visiting the JMRC, the President was additionally in Naga on Saturday to examine the Division of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Oplan Kontra Baha, launched in February to wash the town’s our bodies of water, together with its drainage system.

Marcos additionally turned over a particular allotment launch order price P500 million for the rehabilitation of the JMRC.

On Naga’s flood issues

Marcos and Robredo on Saturday visited flood management initiatives within the Sagup and Magaya-gaya creeks in barangays Triangulo and Concepcion, each lined by the Workplace of the President and Naga Metropolis’s Oplan Kontra Baha.

“We’re right here to try to discover options to this crucial downside, the very crucial downside that we have now not solely right here in Naga Metropolis but in addition in CamSur and, for that matter, for the entire of Bicol. That’s what we’re concentrating on,” Marcos stated. “Kung sino ang nangangailangan ng tulong (Whoever is in want of assist), the nationwide authorities is right here to assist.”

Naga was one of the closely affected cities by Extreme Tropical Storm Kristine‘s onslaught in 2024. Town acquired over P283.3-million price range for flood management initiatives from 2022 to 2024 — this, on high of Camarines Sur’s P15.7-billion flood management price range for a similar interval. (READ: Over 1.4 million affected by Extreme Tropical Storm Kristine in Bicol)

For John Aton, a resident of Triangulo in Naga, the President’s go to was a superb alternative for the locals to air their issues about flooding to the nationwide authorities.

“Napaka-worse talaga kasi grabe rito ang pagbabaha. Halos lubog na ang buong Triangulo. Sana ‘yung flood management dae na pagkurakuton. Para kay President Marcos, sana maayos ang problema sa baha and maayos na ang pagpapatupad ng flood management initiatives,” Aton shared.

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(The floods listed below are actually at their worst. Virtually everything of Triangulo was submerged. I hope the funds for flood management received’t be corrupted anymore. For President Marcos, I hope the flooding downside will get fastened, and flood management initiatives are applied correctly.)

Marcos attributed the worsening floods to the widespread building of each private and non-private initiatives, local weather change, and the silting of the Bicol River Basin.

“Ang sinasabi nga ni Mayor Leni is that lots of the locations na dati naman ay hindi binabaha, nandiyan na rin ‘yung impact ng local weather change, kaya that is what we try to treatment,” Marcos stated. “Malaking trabaho ito. It’s going to take time, however marami na tayong mga intervention na p’wedeng gawin, such because the swimming pools that we’re going to put up.”

(In response to Mayor Leni, many locations not liable to flooding at the moment are being affected. The impression of local weather change is obvious, and that’s what we try to treatment. It will take loads of work. It’s going to take time, however there are a lot of interventions we will implement, such because the retarding swimming pools we’re going to put up.)

– Rappler.com