100 municipalities under state of calamity due to El Niño

Task Force El Niño spokesperson Asec. Joel Villarama said on Wednesday that around 100 municipalities in the country have raised a state of calamity in their areas because of the significant damages and losses caused by the El Niño phenomenon to their agricultural crops.

Villarama said that the figures correspond to areas within five provinces: Occidental Mindoro, Antique, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, and Maguindanao del Sur.

“Five entire provinces, then there are towns that also declared individually. So in total, if we count in terms of municipalities, it is 100,” he added.

Villarama said that there are reasons for placing an area under the specified condition in accordance with the guidelines of the Office of the Civil Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

He said that the area should have five percent of the population affected and 30 percent of the livelihood affected.

In the case of calamities like typhoons or earthquakes, they can be declared a state calamity when they cause injury to human life and damage to vital infrastructure such as bridges.

“But most of those who are declaring this El Niño season are due to damage to agriculture or a lack of water,” he added.

Hence, the national government is at present prioritizing ensuring food, water, and energy security, as well as the health and safety of the public.

Moreover, Villarama said that in the declaration of the state of calamity, the local calamity fund of the local government unit will be immediately used.

“The national government will help depending on the need. The president mentioned that aid is not one size fits all, particularly in Occidental Mindoro,” the task force official noted.

“If the need is to run the irrigation pumps, whether diesel or solar, that's the help that will be given. If what is needed is a different crop besides rice, it can be replaced with a high-value crop such as beans, corn, and legumes,” Villarama said, adding that diversified alternative livelihoods are also provided to those farmers rehabilitating their crop areas.

As of 16 April 2024, the Department of Agriculture Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center reported that agricultural damage due to El Niño is now P3.94 billion, equivalent to 162,793 metric tons of volume loss, affecting 73,713 farmers and fishermen and 66,065 hectares of crop areas, of which 15,281 hectare, or 23.13 percent, have no chance of recovery.