The national highway along barangays Dauis Norte, Maslog and Guinsay were flooded which also stalled traffic were flooded with water. (CDNPHOTO/NORMAN V. MENDOZA)
TROPICAL DEPRESSION CRISING
The Cebu Provincial Veterinarian Office (PVO) has recorded almost a million pesos’ worth of damage in poultry and livestock caused by Tropical Depression Crising when it hit northern Cebu over the weekend.
Dr. Mary Rose Vincoy of the PVO said that a total of P856,800 worth of livestock and poultry damage were reported, covering the northern towns of Borbon (P78,000), Catmon (P38,900) and Sogod (P18,400), and the City of Danao (P721,500).
In the town of Carmen, where eight people perished at the height of Crising, authorities were still in the process of assessing the livestock and poultry damage in the area, said Vincoy.
“Ang Carmen, ongoing gihapon ang ilang damage assessment kay perti gyud nga daghana kuno (The damage assessment in Carmen is still ongoing because there is just so much damage reported),” she said.
The rest of the northern towns, Vincoy said, reported no damage.
According to Vincoy, the livestock and poultry that were damaged in Borbon were covered by the provincial government’s agri-fishery insurance program while the animals in Sogod and Catmon were under a Philippine Coconut Authority insurance program.
Vincoy’s office had yet to determine whether damaged livestock and poultry in Carmen were covered by the insurance program of the provincial government.
“So basically if they are covered, they will just have to fill up the form and they can be given assistance,” Vincoy said in Cebuano.
Vincoy explained that all farmers whose livestock and poultry were damaged by the tropical depression will be provided with veterinary assistance including veterinary medicines and feeds even if they had no insurance.
But only those covered by the insurance program of the provincial government will be given additional cash assistance.
Crops and fishery
Over at the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), crop and fishery damage in the town of Catmon was pegged at P157,000: Borbon (P17,000), Liloan (P60,000) and Compostela (P5,000).
While PAO head Roldan Saragena initially placed crop and fishery damage in Carmen town at P2.7 million, the town’s own agriculture office recorded on Thursday that damage had reached P3.3 million.
Saragena said that the towns of Sogod and Bogo and the City of Mandaue did not suffer any agri-fishery damage, while Danao City had yet to submit its assessment data.
Saragena urged municipal agriculture officers to submit a master list of affected farmers in their respective areas so that the provincial government can extend assistance by way of providing assorted vegetable seedlings and high-quality corn seeds in time for the first cropping season this May.
Aside from its agri-fishery insurance program, which has an allocated budget of P20 million, the Cebu provincial government offers to lend two tractors to affected local government units to assist their local farmers, Saragena said.
“But they (LGUs) have to shoulder the fuel. The use of the tractor is for free and the Capitol will be providing a driver to go with it as well as shoulder the delivery of the equipment,” Saragena explained in Cebuano.
Additional financial assistance
Marivic Garces of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) said that they are looking to have the Provincial Board sponsor a resolution so that the provincial government can extend additional financial aid to the 10 casualties of Tropical Depression Crising across the province.
Garces said PSWDO was mulling on giving an additional P10,000 assistance for each of the families of the ten fatalities from Carmen town (8) and Danao City (1) in the north and the town of Alcoy (1) in southern Cebu.
“I have talked to Governor Hilario Davide III that we will request the Provincial Board to sponsor a resolution so that we can give an additional cash assistance to the families of those who were killed. However, the other typhoon victims were already given the usual assistance of rice, canned goods and used clothing.” Garces added.
Garces said that on top of the financial assistance, the provincial government also extended food and burial assistance to the families of those who perished during last week’s tropical depression.