PDRRMO Pushes for State of Calamity Due to Dry Spell

The Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) is recommending to Gov. Hilario P. Davide III and to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to place the entire province under a state of calamity as the effect of the weak El Niño is already apparent in some Cebu’s farmlands and rivers.

In an interview over radio dyAB on Wednesday, March 20, PDRRMO Chief Baltazar Tribunalo said the decision to recommend for the calamity declaration came after his office conducted a rapid assessment in certain parts of the province on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week, or days just before tropical depression Chedding brought rains in Metro Cebu.

He said that his endorsement would be timely as farmers and residents in the shore and mountain areas already felt the low supply of water, which will eventually affect their livelihood.

Some farmers have stopped planting their seasonal crops because of the prolonged heat and the decreasing supply of water in most areas in the province.

“The farmers in some areas are no longer planting crops for consumption and livelihood because they are worried that these crops will eventually die when the dry spell reach its peak. They may have nothing to eat or sell. This is what we call deprivation,” Tribunalo said in Cebuano.

As of this writing, Tribunalo said his office is still finalizing the list of affected areas, which will be included in the assessment report to be released this Friday.

He said that the farmers’ decision not to plant seasonal crops due to the dry spell is a manifest disruption of their livelihood. Tribunalo said that this matter is the essence of the state of calamity as provided under Republic Act 10121 also known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.

Under RA 10121, a state of calamity is defined as “a condition involving mass casualty and/or major damages to property, disruption of means of livelihoods, roads and normal way of life of people in the affected areas as a result of the occurrence of natural or human-induced hazard.”

Tribunalo said that once the declaration is raised by the Provincial Government, it can extend immediate aid to some areas as part of the El Niño early mitigation mechanisms.

On Friday, the PDRRMO will tackle the recommendation before the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) where they will present the extent of the damage of the dry spell, including the locations of the affected areas, Tribunalo said.

Last Feb. 28, the Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction Management Council approved the PDRRMO’s recommendation to place the province under the state of preparedness to brace for the impact of the prolonged heat weather. (by Jethro Bacolod)

Source: cebu.gov.ph