Cebu City disaster head eyes bigger allocation for El Niño mitigation

Cebu farmers now suffer the brunt of the El Nino phenomenon./CDN Digital File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The 27 million allocation which the Cebu City Risk Reduction Management Office (CCRRMO) requested earlier is no longer enough to caution the ill effects of the El Niño phenomenon.

Anticipating the damage caused by the drought to further increase in the coming months, Wesley Yñigo, CDRRMO operations head, told CDN Digital in an interview today, April 13, that they will be needing an even bigger allocation to especially aid the city’s farmers.

Yñigo said that as of Friday afternoon, the City Agriculture Department (CAD) reported that damage caused by the El Niño has already reached P27.5 million.

Damage on crops is expected to further increase when the El Niño peaks in May.

Read More: El Niño: Cebu City under state of calamity

Yñigo said since its just the start of the second quarter of the year, the city government still has more than enough quick response funds (QRF) that they could use to aid the affected farmers. QRF consist 30 percent of the city’s disaster funds.

“Naa ra gyod tay kwarta sa city para ani. Maka request pa man gyod ta if magkulang. (We have more than enough funds to aid El Niño affected farmers. We can also request for additional allocation in the event that the current allocation is already used up),” said Yñigo.

Read More: Cebu City dad urges public to save water during El Niño

Members of the Cebu City Council asked Yñigo to submit a breakdown of the P27 million QRF which he requested during their special session on Friday morning, prior to the release of the allocation.

Yñigo said that the P27 million budget will be released through CAD, to the farmers who lost their crops due to extreme heat. After its release, Yñigo said that he will go back to the council to ask for additional allocation that will still be charged to the city’s QRF.

He will base his additional budget request on the updated assessment reports that the CAD and Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) will submit within the week.

Aside from giving aid to farmers, Yñigo said that there was also a need for DVMF to purchase medicines and vitamins for livestocks.

“Unahon gyod nato ang mga farmers kay livelihood man gud ni nila. (We will always give priority to the farmers because the El Niño is already hurting their livelihood),” said Yñigo. /dcb