Funds ready for LGUs affected by dry spell

GOV. Hilario Davide III assured that the Cebu Provincial Government will help all local government units (LGUs) affected by the dry spell.

Davide said they have not received any damage reports from the towns but disaster funds will be ready for release once the Provincial Board will approve the resolution putting the entire province under state of calamity.

He said thirty percent of the quick response fund amounting to P36.6 million taken from the total P121 million disaster fund will be given to the LGUs.

The towns of Argao, Tuburan, Tabuelan, and Borbon have been declared under state of calamity by their respective Sangguniang Bayan. During the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council meeting last Tuesday, it was recommended that the whole province of Cebu be declared under state of calamity due to the ‘creeping disaster’ the province is experiencing.

The cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and the towns of Cordova, Consolacion, Lilo-an and Compostela have enough supply of water because of the bulk water supply from the Cebu Manila Water Development Inc. which sources water from Carmen.

It now supplies 24,000 cubic meters of water a day to MCWD.

But  water supply of the areas in the south is affected by the dry season because the production of the Jaclupan facility of the water district has gone down to 11,000 cubic meters of water a day from 33,000.

Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara, spokesperson of MCWD, said that since the month of March they have started issuing advisories to store water starting starting 10 p.m.

“Because at 10 o’ clock and up, most companies using bulk of water cease operation and water pressure to the households increases. So this is the best time to store water,” Kara said.