CAPIZ – Though not directly hit by Tropical Depression “Agaton”, this province suffered P249.3-million damage in agriculture and infrastructure. The typhoon also claimed 19 lives due to massive flooding and as of this writing one person remained missing.
Data from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) as of April 17 showed 365 barangays in 17 towns got flooded, and 127,473 families composed of 488,603 individuals were displaced.
In agriculture, 8,145 hectares of rice fields and 949 hectares of corn fields were damaged; losses reached P176,050,594.40.
Damage to other crops reached P5,034,534.
Meanwhile, other damage recorded were on roads (P39,626,450); bridges (P20,000,000); and livestock and poultry (P8,608,886).
On April 12, members of the PDRRMC convened and recommended, through a resolution, placing the province under a state of calamity.
The council submitted the resolution to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) for approval on April 13. On April 18, the legislative body convened for a special session.
SP chairman on Finance and Appropriation Board Member Jonathan Sonny Besa, in media interviews, explained that they failed to convene immediately because some of the board members were isolated by floodwaters; a quorum could not be achieved.
Monday’s special session (April 18) was also temporarily suspended because the resource persons asked for more time to produce the needed data. The SP members wanted a clear one on the overall affectation of the typhoon in the province.
Among the resource persons were the heads of the PDRRMO, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), Provincial Agriculture’s Office and Provincial Engineer’s office.
Besa clarified that they are not against the declaration of the province under the state of calamity.
He stressed, however, that they want first the respective concerned offices to provide clear data such as the number of affected families and their immediate needs to make sure that public funds will go to legitimate beneficiaries./PN
