Tropical depression leaves some Bicol areas flooded as it dissipates

TROPICAL depression Amang, which has weakened into a low pressure remnant Thursday morning, left 36 areas in the Bicol region flooded after making landfall Wednesday, the national emergency response agency reported.

The flooded areas, including villages and road sections, were in the provinces of Albay, Naga, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur, according to the April 13 bulletin of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

A total of 81 families composed of 280 individuals were temporarily evacuated, all in the town of Guinobatan in Albay. Assistance worth about P48,300 were immediately distributed to the affected residents, NDRRMC said.

AGRICULTURAL DAMAGE
Agricultural damage in Bicol, meanwhile, was initially estimated at P12.3 million, the Department of Agriculture (DA) reported on Thursday.

Rains damaged about 1,097 hectares of farmland and affected over 1,324 farmers, resulting in a production loss of 664 metric tons.

Of the total farm damage, rice accounted for 65.57% and amounted to P8.07 million in value losses. This was followed by high-value crops valued at P4.15 million and livestock and poultry at P126,000.

Losses were mainly reported in the provinces of Camarines Sur and Sorsogon.

The DA said that it has been monitoring the effects of the tropical depression and conducting assessment of damage and losses to the agri-fisheries sector.

The department also said that the assistance available for distribution are seeds of rice, corn, and assorted vegetable to affected farmers; drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry farmers; and fingerlings to fisherfolks.

“Almost all of our rice areas there are irrigated, draining is the most important so that they will not be waterlogged,” U-Nicholas A. Manalo, officer-in-charge of DA Field Operations Service, told a news briefing in Filipino.

He said impact to overall production is relatively minimal as the losses still can be recovered with the wet cropping season having just started.

Operations at all seaports resumed Thursday after almost 4,000 passengers were stranded since Tuesday, according to the NDRRMC report.

State weather agency PAGASA said the low pressure area is expected to still bring scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms within Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon until Friday morning.

“The remnant circulation of Amang is forecast to track generally northwestward or west northwestward towards Polillo Islands and northern mainland Quezon,” PAGASA said in its 11 a.m. Thursday update.

“This weather disturbance may dissipate in the next 24 hours.”

CASH TRANSFER BILL
In another development, a senator reiterated his push for a bill that will automatically enroll victims of calamities in the government’s cash transfer program to aid recovery.

“The 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program cash transfer aid of the government) was made to break cases of intergenerational poverty, and one of its causes are families’ inability to recover from calamities,” Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano said in a statement on Thursday.

Mr. Cayetano urged lawmakers to pass Senate Bill No. 302 or the 4Ps for Disaster Victims Act.

“This measure proposes to strengthen the 4Ps Law to aid our countrymen placed in unfortunate situations without their fault, such as disasters,” he said.

Under the proposed measure, victims deemed poor due to natural or man-made disasters will receive a one-time financial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Within 15 to 30 days from the disaster, the DSWD will “conduct an assessment to determine whether disaster victims are still eligible for full benefits under the 4Ps Act,” Mr. Cayetano said in the bill.

Those still “rendered poor as a result of the disaster” will immediately be enrolled as full beneficiaries, the senator said.

The bill is still pending at the committee level. — Marifi S. Jara, Sheldeen Joy Talavera and Beatriz Marie D. Cruz