Pampanga, Bataan under state of calamity

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Provincial Government here has declared Pampanga under a state of calamity Thursday.

In Resolution No. 9405, Governor Lilia Pineda has placed the province under a state of calamity during a special session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan “to enable immediate, coordinated and effective response measures for affected communities.”

Currently, there are 527,648 individuals or 160,891 families from 290 barangays in the province affected by the inclement weather in the province.

Some 224 barangays from 18 local government units are flooded, with 3,787 individuals or 1,122 families in evacuation centers.

The province has also incurred P470,104,758.48 worth of damages in the agricultural sector, and P3,391,750.00 worth of damages in livestock.

Also declaring a state of calamity was Bataan which passed Resolution No. 330 due to the damages incurred from the continuous heavy rainfall and strong winds brought by storms “Crising,” “Dante” and “Emong.”

A total of 172,364 families or 662,038 individuals from 11 towns and one city of Bataan were adversely affected by the inclement weather.

Garcia said that according to Weather Advisory #33 of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the province will continue to experience heavy rainfall that would cause flooding and landslide.

A total of 15,356 farmers in Central Luzon were affected by the three tropical storms as well as the southwest monsoon.

According to a report by the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 3, the 15,356 farmers were from six of the seven provinces in the region.

The biggest number of farmers that were affected were from Tarlac with 5,185, followed by Pampanga with 3,888 farmers, Nueva Ecija with 3,658 farmers, Bulacan with 1,283 farmers, Bataan with 960 farmers, and Zambales with 382 farmers.

The DA RFO 3 also reported that 18,700.51 hectares of farmland were affected by the inclement weather, with Tarlac having the biggest area with 6,049.99ha of land. Pampanga followed with 5,304.78ha, Nueva Ecija with 4,661.67ha, Bulacan with 1,449.62ha, Bataan with 850.88ha, and Zambales with 383.57ha.

Total losses incurred by the farmers of Central Luzon has reached P325,066,690.24, with the biggest losses from the province of Pampanga with P151,243,190.96.

This was followed by Tarlac with P86,523,225.77, then by Nueva Ecija with P41,810,468.49, then Bulacan with P27,109,604.58, Bataan with P15,326,960.71, and lastly Zambales with P3,053,239.72.

Meanwhile, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has delivered sacks of rice to towns in Bataan as aid for the families affected by recent heavy rains.

According to BCDA president and CEO Engineer Joshua Bingcang, the towns include Dinalupihan and Hermosa, both experiencing heavy rains and floodwaters.