ZAMBOANGA CITY — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged the local and national government units to strengthen their working relationship with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as he emphasized that bureaucracy must be lessened.

The President's statements came after the situational briefing presented by him by the military, police and BARMM officials at the Kampilan Clubhouse in Maguindanao del Norte on Tuesday.

Marcos emphasized that the working relationship between the ministries of BARMM, the local government units, and other agencies must be strengthened and collaboration during disaster response must be intensified.

He added that standard operating procedures and guidelines must be adjusted so that the best services are rendered, most especially to internally displaced persons.

The President also said that flood-control programs such as tree planting must be conducted as he observed that most of the mountains in Maguindanao are not forested which makes them vulnerable to flash floods, landslides and other natural disasters.

He identified the 6th Infantry Division headquarters as the hub of all relief goods and supplies intended for the internally displaced persons affected by the calamity.

To recall, Marcos flew to BARMM to personally access the destruction caused by the floodings and landslides, particularly in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat that killed at least 60 people in the region during the onslaught of severe tropical storm "Paeng."

For his part, Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command acting commander Brig. Gen. Arturo Rojas pledged to boost its humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations in communities severely hit by typhoon "Paeng".

Rojas has shifted the deployment of additional air assets and placed naval assets on standby to support the relief operations in Joint Task Force Central's area of responsibility.

"The Western Mindanao Command is always ready to provide assistance and better interventions, may it be for security or disaster relief. Our troops from the Joint Task Force Central are giving their best effort to aid in the relief operations while ensuring everybody's safety from the terror plot of our adversaries. Other joint task forces also go the extra mile to help our kababayans rise from the tragic situation," Rojas said.