Unang Balita is the news segment of GMA Network's daily morning program, Unang Hirit. It's anchored by Arnold Clavio, Susan Enriquez, Ivan Mayrina, and Mariz Umali, and airs on GMA-7 Mondays to Fridays at 5:30 AM (PHL Time). For more videos from Unang Balita, visit http://www.gmanetwork.com/unangbalita.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, Consul General Donna Rodriguez of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.
00:09Good morning, Consul General. How are you? This is Maris.
00:14Good morning, Ms. Maris, and good morning to all the listeners of Unang Hirit in the Philippines and in different parts of the world.
00:25First of all, ma'am, how are our fellow Filipinos in Florida?
00:28Are there any Filipinos who were hurt by Hurricane Milton?
00:31As of now, we have not received any reports from Filipinos that our fellow Filipinos were hurt or injured by Hurricane Milton.
00:42So far, we have not received any reports.
00:46So in other words, all of them were evacuated immediately before Hurricane Milton hit?
00:52Before Hurricane Milton hit, the Embassy issued an advisory to our fellow Filipinos in Florida.
01:02Our Honorary Consul in Florida also issued their own advisory.
01:07Even before, the local government, the State of Florida and FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States,
01:18issued their own advisory.
01:21Those areas that were sure to be hit by Hurricane Milton, especially the areas that are called under mandatory evacuation,
01:34all of the residents in those areas were evacuated.
01:42How many Filipinos live in Florida and how many of them were contacted by the Embassy?
01:48In the whole of Florida, our estimate is more than 178,000.
01:56That's a lot.
01:57Yes, that's a lot.
01:59So in the areas that are projected to be hit by Hurricane Milton, like the Tampa Bay area or the Orlando area,
02:13in Tampa Bay, we have around 34,000 and in Orlando, around 23,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.
02:26Now, because of the large number of our fellow Filipinos in those areas,
02:33we contacted our contacts, especially among the Filipino community, leaderships, and organizations
02:41before Hurricane Milton hit.
02:45So we've been coordinating with them and also with our Honorary Consul in Florida.
02:52All right. Did you monitor the situation in Florida right now?
02:58As far as we know, Hurricane Milton has already left Florida and is now in the Atlantic Ocean.
03:08So it's not as bad as what you're experiencing there.
03:12Are there any other disasters?
03:16As of now, from what we've gathered, there are areas that are still impacted,
03:25like those houses that are still without electricity.
03:31The local government is still not lifting or recalling evacuation orders.
03:41So the areas are still affected.
03:45All right. What is the Philippine Embassy's assistance to the affected Filipinos?
03:52As of now, as I said earlier, we have not received a report and we have not received a request.
04:02So whatever assistance the Embassy is ready to provide, whatever request we can help with,
04:10it depends on the case-to-case basis.
04:13Is there any shelter that our Consul can provide?
04:19Usually, when it comes to those kinds of shelters,
04:23usually the local government or the state government of Florida or even at the federal level,
04:30they have assistance if they have such requests for assistance.
04:39They are asking for it.
04:40Yes, they are asking for it.
04:42All right. Thank you very much, Consul General Donna Rodriguez, for your time.
04:45Please take care.
04:48You're welcome. Thank you and thank you to all of you.
04:52God bless you.