NOVELETA, Cavite — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Monday said there is no need to place the Philippines under a state of calamity for a year after the onslaught of tropical storm Paeng.

“I don’t think it is necessary,” Marcos told reporters after a post-disaster briefing here.

• NDRRMC recommends nationwide, yearlong state of calamity due to Paeng

“I came to that conclusion with the DENR kasi highly localized ang mga damage. We are talking about east coast, like in Cavite, Quezon and Maguindanao,” he said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) recommended the declaration of a year-long national state of calamity, saying 16 out of 17 regions in the Philippines were classified as high risk areas during the onslaught of Paeng.

• Paeng death toll rises to 98: NDRRMC

The death toll due to Paeng has risen to 98, according to the NDRRMC’s latest bulletin.

At least 63 people are still missing and 69 others were injured.

The NDRRMC said some 590,000 families or 1.9 million people were affected by Paeng, of whom around 309,000 people fled to evacuation centers.