By Perla Lena
ILOILO CITY – The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) reported that early interventions and preparations undertaken by regional agencies and local government units have effectively mitigated production losses attributed to the El Niño phenomenon in Western Visayas.
As of Tuesday, the losses resulting from the phenomenon have amounted to over PHP761 million.
According to OCD 6 (Western Visayas) Director Raul E. Fernandez, in an interview on Wednesday, the recorded damages were notably lower compared to previous instances of El Niño.
Western Visayas recorded its highest production losses at PHP2.2 billion in 2015 and PHP1.5 billion in 2018.
“I want to commend our local government units because of their proactive intervention to our affected populace,” he said.
The more than PHP761 million losses subject to validation include PHP663.61 million for rice, PHP84.35 million for corn, and PHP13.27 million for high-value crops affecting 20,488 farmers.
The top three provinces with huge losses are Iloilo with PHP519.19 million; Antique, PHP130.7 million; and Negros Occidental, PHP78.45 million.
In terms of declaring a state of calamity, he said they need to meet the criteria, including at least 15 percent of the population and at least 30 percent of the livelihood are affected.
“They are now in the process of validating because it might be that the situation already calls for it, but it only lacks validation. Antique is also conducting rapid damage assessment and needs analysis,” he added.
He said the Department of Agriculture (DA) already distributed high-breed seeds with fertilizer for those non-vulnerable irrigated areas for continuous food production and mung bean seeds for vulnerable areas.
Before the onset of the weather phenomenon, the DA had distributed red and yellow onion pest control materials.
Validation is also ongoing to identify those qualified to receive food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The department also provided seeds under the Project Breaking Insufficiency through Nutritious Harvest for Impoverished (BINHI) for planting surrounding the service areas of the Local Adaptation to Water Access (LAWA) or water reservoir project in Antique.
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) also conducts rotational distribution of water.
Meanwhile, the Iloilo Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) passed two resolutions during an emergency meeting on Tuesday – the first is endorsing the creation of a task force, and the second is organizing the provincial rapid/post-damage assessment and needs analysis to enhance the capacity of the province to assess and respond to the impacts of disaster.
The task force has five key security sectors – food security, water security, energy security, health security, and public safety.
“They are tasked to carry out the mitigation efforts and implementation of action plans focused on their respective sectors guided by the four DRRM thematic areas,” PDRRMO chief Cornelio Salinas. (PNA)
