By Vanne Elaine Terrazola Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto urged the government to prepare for the incoming weather disturbances instead of devoting time on politics. Senator Ralph Recto (JOHN JEROME GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Recto, in his statement Monday apparently took a swipe at the administration's recent pronouncements as he reminded them to brace for possible disasters. "This is not to sound alarmist, but prevention and anticipation are better than denial. Because when a typhoon hits, it doesn't choose its targets based on their political affinity. There are no Yellows or DDS or Reds when calamity strikes," he said. The Senate leader made the appeal amid the voiding of amnesty of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, which escalated the clash between the administration and members of the opposition. The Palace raised anew destabilization plots supposedly against the government. The state weather bureau reported that a low pressure area off Basco, Batanes has developed into a tropical depression Neneng and will continue to affect Northern Luzon. The public was also told to prepare for an approaching typhoon "Mangkhut" (international name). "Government should brace for typhoon Neneng instead of being focused on political storms," Recto said. "Communications-wise, what the public ought to hear is a steady stream of typhoon information not the gale-force rhetoric from some bully pulpit," he added. The government, he said, can begin with convening a command conference of concerned agencies in its national disaster body. Recto warned that the typhoon may aggravate "exponentially" the country's problems, particularly, on inflation. "We are already reeling from the man-made calamity that is inflation and high prices of goods," he said. "Typhoons can flood growing areas, damage planted crops, and render farm-to-market roads impassable—any of which can disrupt the supply chain and trigger temporary scarcity that will surely cause prices to rise," he noted.