By Robina Asido

President Rodrigo Duterte will visit the areas battered by Typhoon ''Odette'' on Saturday morning as the reported number of fatalities reached 12.

" I am flying tomorrow to the area also. I would hit maybe Leyte, Surigao and if there's enough time to go to Bohol. Then the day after I would try to visit Cebu and at the western side of the islands, Bacolod, Iloilo," Duterte said in a televised meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council ( NDRRMC) Friday afternoon.

Duterte made the announcement after NDRRMC executive director Ricardo Jalad said the runway in Siargao is still usable despite damage to the airport.

"I am not so worried about damage to structures, infrastructure of the government. My fear is that if there are many fatalities. I am as eager as you to go there to see for myself. We are trying to raise the money," he said.

"Our budget is depleted immensely because of Covid, our budget really ran out... These typhoons are imponderable. They would come, they would not come," he added.

Jalad, in his slide presentation, said Western Visayas had the highest casualities with six followed by Central Visayas, four, Southern Leyte one and Bukidnon, one. He added that this is still being verified.

Jalad said aside from the 12 fatalities, seven were missing and two were injured.

He said a total of 84,674 families or 338,664 individuals were preemptively evacuated in Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region and Caraga. DMS