MANILA (Jan. 16, 2012) -- Malacanang has given the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) three months to wrap up its investigation into flash floods and landslides that swept away villages and killed close to 1,500 in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan last month.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte, in a radio interview, said President Benigno Aquino III is expecting a report from Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo on the fatal flash floods and landslides that killed more than 800 and left more than 400 missing in Cagayan de Oro alone.

Valte said the report would contain the result of the investigation and a recommendation as to who is or are culpable.

“Whoever would be found to have neglected their duties in so far as the Cagayan de Oro disaster is concerned would definitely be charged and rest assure the Aquino government is no ningas cogon unlike the previous administration,” Valte said.

The DILG investigation is centered on the disaster response of the local government units.

Valte went on to say that the Aquino administration is bent on breaking an old pattern where local government officials usually get away from their accountability as soon as the issue cools down.

“As I have said before, this time it will be different. We have always mentioned that accountability is one of the key points, one of the stronger points of the Aquino administration and certainly we will not hesitate to push accountability where it lies,” Valte added.

Irate residents of Cagayan de Oro City have also initiated a new forum where the public can actually vent their outrage against the perceived inability of the local government in responding to last month’s devastating flash floods.

Hundreds of thousands were affected by tropical storm Sendong, which triggered floods that swept away whole villages built on sandbars and river banks in dozens of Mindanao towns from Dec. 16 to 18.