The weak El Niño is starting to affect the farmlands in Central Visayas, including some areas in Cebu. | photo from Cebu.gov.ph
CEBU CITY, Philippines —The declaration of a state of calamity in Cebu province due to the prevailing weak El Niño remains active despite the official start of the rainy season.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) Information Officer Julius Regner said they would need to evaluate first the situation of the El Niño-affected areas before they would be able to lift the state of calamity declaration.
“I-consider pa na nato ang dagan sa panahon. Bisan og naa na tay uwan-uwan, we need to see unsa ang gikusgon ug kung sagunson na ba na ang pag-uwan,” Regner explained.
(We need to consider factors like the weather condition. Even if we are experiencing rains now, we still need to see the amount of rain and how consistent the downpour is.)
According to the latest weather forum of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued May 22, the effects of the dry spell is seen to continue up to the end of August.
Read more: Pagasa: Rainy season may start mid of June but effects of El Niño could last until August
The PDRRMO has already recorded at the end of May this year P121 million worth of damage on crops due to the effects of the weak El Niño.
Read more: El Niño damages P121M worth of crops in Cebu province
The dry spell has so far left around 67,057 individuals coming from 13,000 families who live in 35 of the 51 component Local Government Units in the province with barely enough income for their needs.
Before lifting the state of calamity, Regner said that they would also have to look into if all relief items had been distributed to the affected communities.
The PDRRMO has released at least P34 million out of its P59-million quick response fund (QRF) for the procurement of relief items, including food packs, water containers, and seeds and fertilizers for farmers.
The Provincial Board, in its regular session on March 25, has placed the province under a state of calamity after the PDRRMO logged the dry spell-related damage to be at approximately P100 million./dbs