PBBM creates El Niño task force

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Wednesday told the concerned government agencies to fast-track the construction of water facilities to soften the impact of El Niño on agriculture and other sectors.

Marcos made this call during two separate events on Wednesday, where he led the inauguration of an irrigation facility in Nueva Ecija, and the turnover of wheeled excavators in Zambales.

In his speech, Marcos said the Department of Agriculture and the National Irrigation Administration should ensure that ongoing water projects will be finished by "April of next year."

"Starting maybe in January, it might not rain as much, so we need to do everything we can to prepare for the dry season that might extend into the second quarter," Marcos said during the inauguration of the Balbalungao Small Reservoir Irrigation Project (BSRIP) in Lupao, Nueva Ecija.

"We must be prepared to address the effects of El Niño," Marcos also mentioned during the turnover of NIA-procured various excavators in Subic.

Marcos also underscored the need to ensure the country's preparedness for potential El Niño consequences, encompassing decreased rainfall and drought.

He added that the impact of El Niño may even be felt in the power and health sectors.

Marcos to restructure Task Force El Niño

Hence, Marcos said the government would restructure the Task Force El Niño since there is a need for a more extensive measure to mitigate the effects of El Niño.

"I have created under the Office of the President a Task Force El Niño. There already exists one but we need to restructure because I think this is a more serious, and a more extensive effort because we really have to get everybody involved to be able to prepare, to make sure we can minimize, alleviate, and adapt to climate change," Marcos told reporters in a media interview in Nueva Ecija.

In April of this year, the President urged the establishment of a dedicated team aimed at lessening the impacts of the El Niño phenomenon. El Niño involves atypical warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, leading to decreased rainfall.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government will spearhead this task force, collaborating closely with the Office of Civil Defense. Marcos specified a four-month window for government officials to execute projects targeted at tackling El Niño.