RELENTLESS rains and floods caused by the combined effects of tropical storms Maymay, Luis, Neneng and the southwest monsoon or habagat have claimed 33 lives and affected over 8.6 million people across the country, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Monday.
The council said deaths were mostly recorded in Benguet, La Union, Rizal, Batangas, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Negros Occidental and Caloocan City mostly due to drowning, electrocution or landslides.
Nineteen were recorded injured from Ilocos, Benguet, Abra, Quezon, Rizal and Cavite with three still missing from Quezon City, Manila and Batangas.
The number of affected persons also rose to 8.6 million or 2.4 million families in Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Western Visayas and Western Mindanao.
More than 50,000 families are currently taking shelter at 1,378 evacuation centers.
The weather disturbance has caused over P6.12 billion in infrastructure damage including 3,300 homes damaged. Damage to agriculture is now at P2.32 billion with a P1.74 billion in assistance released.
Meanwhile, 117 cities and municipalities have been declared to be under a state of calamity.
These include towns in Dagupan, Pangasinan, Benguet, Bataan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas and Occidental Mindoro.
Immediate repair needed
Sen. Francis Pangilinan called for the immediate repair and restoration of roads, bridges, and irrigation systems damaged by the recent typhoons and southwest monsoon or habagat.
In a statement, Pangilinan warned that prolonged damage to agricultural infrastructure could further harm farmers and fishermen and threaten the country’s food supply.
The government, he said, must move quickly to restore vital farm-to-market roads, irrigation, and mechanization and dryer facilities so farmers can return to their fields, transport their produce, and prepare for the next planting and harvest cycle.
“Farmers and fisherfolk are among the sectors of society most severely affected by weather disturbances such as the southwest monsoon (habagat) and typhoons. Roads are damaged and farmlands are destroyed, this means not only is there no harvest, but there is also no way to transport the produce — even if they manage to salvage a small amount,” Pangilinan said.
Immediate repairs of roads that are vital to the transport of agricultural produce from farms should be part of the government’s food security response in times of natural disasters, he added.
Pangilinan said that agricultural production cannot fully recover if farmers cannot access their farms or transport their produce to markets.
“The impact of flooding and crop damage is not just a matter of infrastructure and agricultural losses. It is also a matter of food security. Those of us in the cities will also be affected when crops from farms or catch from the sea cannot be brought to market,” he said.
The senator urged the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Agriculture (DA), the National Irrigation Administration, and local governments to conduct rapid assessments of damaged agricultural infrastructure and to prioritize repairs in heavily affected farming communities.
He also called for the release and proper use of available funds for rehabilitation, emphasizing that repairs must be durable and withstand increasingly frequent and intense weather events.
“The problems we face every time there is a typhoon or southwest monsoon cannot keep happening over and over again. We need to be proactive, not reactive. We need to build roads and irrigation systems that will withstand these severe weather events,” Pangilinan said.
“Let us not wait for the next disaster before we repair or rebuild once again. We need to make sure that what we build today will be strong enough to withstand the rains and weather events of the future,” he added.
The latest update from DA said the weather disturbances have so far affected 69,615 farmers and fishers in eight regions — Cordillera, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas.
They have also damaged 60,896 metric tons of crops over 62,732 hectares of farmland.
Relief efforts
Speaking on state-run PTV, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao, spokesman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), said more than half of the pre-packed family food packs released by the agency were given to Central Luzon, which was devastated by the enhanced southwest monsoon.
“The DSWD has released a total of 3 million family food packs, as well as ready-to-eat food boxes, nonfood items, and financial assistance since the height of the southwest monsoon and the onslaught of the three tropical cyclones,” she said in Filipino.
She also dispelled rumors circulating online that each food pack costs P1,503.84. She said each pack only costs P797.80.
“The P1,503.84 is what we call the approved budget of the contract, the maximum amount that a food pack can cost. But because it goes through competitive bidding, the supplier was awarded to the most responsive and least expensive. So the winner bid a total of P797.80,” she said.
Meanwhile, Commodore Noemie Cayabyab, spokesman of the Philippine Coast Guard, said it is monitoring eight ports, with 38 stranded passengers in Romblon.
IZEL ABANILLA, CATHERINE VALENTE, ALLEN LIMOS
