PDRRMC to layout implementation of emergency response plan as dry spell continues

Dionisio Seguerra, a farmer in the mountains of Mantalongon, Dalaguete shows to Cebu Daily News his vegetables which shrunk at the onset of  the 2017 El Niño phenomenon. This year, 2019, the dry spell once again led the Cebu Provincial Government to declare a province-wide state of calamity as the intense heat dried up water sources and caused a decline in farm products.  CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

CEBU CITY — The Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) Council will layout the implementation of an existing emergency response plan after the entire province was placed under a state of calamity.

Totch dela Cruz, assistant head of the PDRRM Office (PDRRMO), said the Capitol department heads, who are under the PDRRM Council, will convene on Thursday, March 28, to discuss the response plan that the province will take following the effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon that is experienced by the province.

Dela Cruz said at least P59 million of the P198 million from the 2019 budget of the PDRRM office is programmed under quick response fund (QRF).

The QRF will be the source of the immediate assistance that the province will provide to the residents of areas that are hit by the dry spell.

During its March 25, 2019 session, the Provincial Board approved a resolution placing the entire province under a state of calamity due to the reported effects of the dry season.

The PDRRMO earlier reported a total damage of P100 million on crops and livestock.

Julius Regner, information officer of the PDRRMO, said P20 to P25 million out of the P59 million QRF may be used as immediate response aid to those affected by the dry spell.

“We are still in March, three months into the year. We still don’t know what else may come in in the later part of the year. That is why we cannot spend all of our QRF for this dry spell,” Regner told CDN Digital in a phone interview.

Regner said cash-for-work and food-for-work programs for affected farmers will be some of the immediate responses that will be implemented by the province.

He said the expendable QRF will also be used for the rationing of water to areas in the province that have little or scarce supply of water due to the dry season. / celr