She says that she is responsible for ensuring that state agencies respond to the Emergency and asserts that Mazón said that the meetings were recorded
The Government Delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, has insisted that the Generalitat is the «single command» of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi), a non-collegiate body in which «there is no need to vote because there is a command that directs», and has questioned that on October 29, the day the dana devastated the province of Valencia, the authorities did not send the alert message to the population «until the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, appeared.»
This was stated by the delegate on Saturday in statements to the media in Paiporta (Valencia), after the Generalitat reported to the judge investigating the events of the dana day that the Cecopi was constituted at 5:00 p.m. that day, with the direction of the Special Plan against the risk of floods exercised by the then Councilor of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, within a «Management Committee», formed by her and the Government Delegate in the Valencian Community, in reference to the position held by Pilar Bernabé.
In this regard, asked if the decision to send the Es-Alert message to mobile phones was a joint decision between her and Pradas, Bernabé emphasized that «there is a single command», exercised by «the person responsible for emergencies in the autonomous community», so that person –on the day of the dana, Salomé Pradas– is «the one who assumes responsibility and the decisions that are made.»
Bernabé pointed out that on October 29, about 45 minutes after the Cecopi was constituted, Pradas asked those who were connected remotely –including the delegate– to turn off the cameras «because they were going to think and decide what to do.»
«When they reconnected, they told us that they were going to send an Es Alert,» Bernabé stated. Asked if Mazón was already present at the Cecopi at that time, the delegate stressed that «they will have to explain why they did not send the message until the President of the Generalitat appeared.» «What is evident is that we saw the President of the Generalitat after the Es Alert had already been sent,» she said.
Furthermore, Bernabé stated that her mobile phone is «available to everyone so they can see what I was doing» during that period when «they went to think.» Specifically, she mentioned that she was «calling mayors, asking them how they were, and when the time came, I asked them, please, to send the message they had decided to send as soon as possible, to the entire province and not just to Ribera Baixa.»
Regarding the message, she emphasized that «the most important thing» was for it to reach people without coverage, so she had conversations with the Civil Guard «to try to reach those municipalities where we knew there was no coverage so they could have the information in the face of a massive flood, either due to the breakage of Forata or the circumstances that were occurring at that time.»
«ALL THIS WILL COME OUT»
«All this will come out because there were dozens of people connected to the Cecopi and present at the Cecopi and when we go to explain what happened, then everyone will speak and these are the facts and realities that happened and will be told, where they have to be explained and where they have to be told,» she asserted.
Likewise, she reiterated her call to the Generalitat to make the recordings of the Cecopi available, although she lamented that the PP and the Consell use the recordings «according to their interests.» She stated that, during this emergency, «the President of the Generalitat and other emergency officials have referred on several occasions to the fact that the Cecopi meetings were recorded.»
«They told us that they were recorded, that the conversations were recorded. That is another issue that the people who were at the Cecopi can also attest to,» she said, while reproaching that when they request the recordings, «they say they do not exist.» «If you told me they are recorded and then they say they do not exist, it seems logical to think that something happened. They may have been accidentally deleted, I don’t know,» she joked.
«THERE IS A COMMAND THAT DIRECTS»
Asked about her responsibility in the Cecopi, Bernabé stated that she is responsible for the agencies that are part of the Government of Spain, so that they respond to «the demands made by the emergency management», while emphasizing that «there is a law, there is a plan that clearly explains what each one’s competencies are.»
The Cecopi, she pointed out, is a coordination center and «is signed by the Emergencies councilor and by the deputy director of Emergencies on two different occasions, one with Salomé Pradas and the other with Valderrama.» «In both cases, it clearly states that it is not a collegiate body,» she stated.
«They explain that there are no minutes because there is no voting. So if there is no voting, how is that decision made? It is a decision that does not need to be voted on because there is a command that directs. It is simple to understand. The actions related to the agencies are coordinated in the Cecopi; I represent the agencies that are part of the Cecopi and that belong to the Government. And what I try to do is to ensure that these agencies respond to the demands of emergency management. That is my role,» she detailed.
«REWRITING HISTORY»
On the other hand, Bernabé accused the PP of trying to «rewrite history» with «falsehoods, rumors, and tactics of cutting recordings that, moreover, are taken in a very malicious way and would need to be seen if not fraudulent.»
In this context, she believes that citizens see «what roles each government has» and she stated that the Government of Spain is «in the reconstruction, working, even working on the emergency»; while the Generalitat is subjecting the people of Valencia to a «lamentable spectacle.»
«Honestly, we don’t deserve this. What we deserve is, first, for them to assume the responsibility that is legally theirs, to assume the responsibility of exercising and having exercised command during an emergency like the one we experienced and, from now on, to dedicate themselves to work and rebuild the province of Valencia, which is very much needed,» she concluded.
«FUNDAMENTAL DELAY»
On the other hand, the special commissioner of the Government of Spain for the Reconstruction and Repair of the damages caused by the dana, José María Ángel, considered that there was a «fundamental delay in decision-making,» by convening the Cecopi «at 5:00 p.m., after 48 hours of having warned that it was going to rain.»
According to his experience, he added, Cecopi meetings «are convened in a climatic emergency when Aemet raises the threshold of danger.» Thus, he insisted that «it must be convened in a timely manner so that it can be effective and decisions can be made as quickly as possible.» Likewise, he emphasized that, in his opinion, it was «absolutely surprising» to have called the Military Emergency Unit (UME) at 3:00 p.m. –before the Cecopi meeting.
Asked at what time the Cecopi should have been convened, Ángel indicated that he did not know because he «was not there,» but he stressed that «once Aemet had warned the previous weekend that there would be a threshold of heavy rains in the Valencian Community, it is a good time to convene all those who can give their opinion,» with the aim of «minimizing the risk factors.»
