ILOILO City – Local government units (LGUs) in Western Visayas are bracing for the El Niño phenomenon characterized by long dry spells inimical to agriculture.
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular No. 2023 – 065 enjoined governors, city and municipal mayors to take precautionary measures beginning with the formation or reactivation of their El Niño taskforces.
El Niño may start manifesting between June and July this year and persist until the first quarter of 2024, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
Iloilo City and the province of Antique were among the first to reactivate their El Niño taskforces in Western Visayas.
In Iloilo City, Mayor Jerry P. Treñas heads the taskforce with City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) head Donna Magno as alternate over-all task force head.
There will also be heads for several concerns such as food security, health, water security, environment, economic, public information and education, public safety, social services, and critical infrastructure monitoring/inventory.
The city El Niño taskforce’s functions are the following:
* Formulate a comprehensive disaster preparedness, response plan and contingency plan for the El Niño phenomenon to help the public cope with the phenomena and to minimize its disastrous effects;
* Regularly monitor the implementation of the plan, report the progress to the CDRRMO and recommend actions to emerging issues not covered by the plans;
* Conduct a massive information campaign to educate the public on the El Niño and the needed interventions to reduce its expected adverse impact in the locality;
* Enlist the assistance and support of any government agency on instrumentality as well as civil society in pursuance of its functions and objectives;
* Identify possible funding sources to implement the activities of the taskforce; and
* Undertake such other functions as may be necessary to fulfill its objectives.
Taskforce members are directed to constitute working committees, each focused on different functional concerns such as agriculture, natural resources and water management; early warning system and information campaign; energy and power, public works, transportation and telecommunication; and consumer protection, social services, health and rescue and relief
In Antique, Gov. Rhodora Cadiao issued Executive Order No. 85-2023 reactivating and reconstituting the El Niño taskforce of the province.
She warned that El Niño has serious impacts on agriculture which adversely affect the sufficiency, availability and distribution of food in the locality.
She believes there is a need to reactivate and reconstitute the El Niño taskforce to enhance inter-agency coordination in the formulation and implementation of measures to mitigate the effects of El Niño, particularly on agriculture./PN
