CALAMITY DAMAGE PLACED AT P214.9 MILLION; MUDSLIDE IN BAGUIO
MANILA, August 29, 2004 (STAR) Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap placed the total damage to agriculture and fisheries wreaked by floods triggered by days of torrential rains in three northern regions — the Cordilleras, Ilocos and Central Luzon — at P214.94 million.The breakdown: P72 million to palay, P61,686 to corn, P8.92 million to vegetables, and P134 million to fisheries.
Yap said the hardest-hit provinces were Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan in Region 1 (Ilocos); Bataan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija in Region 3 (Central Luzon) and Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Based on the agriculture department’s initial assessment, 40,446 hectares of palay were destroyed in Regions 1 and 3, or a total volume loss of about 31,093 metric tons, although Yap said this is "minimal" vis-a-vis the national output target of 14.03-14.26 million MT.
Most of the affected palay were "still in their vegetative stage" and may still recover. But should the floods extend for three more days, Yap said a 20-30 percent drop in yield is expected in the affected areas.
In a statement, Yap said all fishponds in Dagupan City in Pangasinan were flooded, washing out all bangus stocks in the ponds, the first time it happened in 30 years. In all, 4,176 hectares of 12,600 hectares of fishponds in Pangasinan were inundated.
Yap said his department is readying all forms of assistance it can extend to affected farmers in the three regions.
As the weather improved, the Philippine Air Force, whose men have been busy in rescue and evacuation missions the past several days, said floodwaters have started to recede in most parts of Central Luzon and Pangasinan.
Despite this, the PAF said many families remained isolated in Paniqui, Tarlac and in heavily flooded areas in Pangasinan.
Raging floodwaters have hampered rescue teams from penetrating western villages in Paniqui town where an earth dike collapsed early Friday morning. The floodwaters have streamed into neighboring Moncada, inundating its eastern villages and even the town proper.
Provincial officials said 5,831 families or 24,510 people are affected in 18 barangays in Paniqui alone. Also flood-stricken were barangays in Tarlac City and the towns of La Paz, Camiling, San Jose, Capas, San Clemente, Ramos, Mayantoc, Gerona, Victoria, Anao and Concepcion.
Although the rains have stopped, Jun de la Cruz, assistant head of the Tarlac disaster coordinating council, said floodwaters from mountain ranges in the western part of the province, continued to flow into the Tarlac River.
President Arroyo visited Paniqui last Friday night and released P1.5 million in calamity funds for the province.
Mrs. Arroyo has similarly ordered the release of P16 million for desilting and flood control projects in Pampanga where six towns were heavily flooded.
She met with officials of flood-stricken areas in Central Luzon in Clark Field, Pampanga the other night and told them to submit their proposals to solve flooding in their respective places.
Gov. Mark Lapid has placed Pampanga under a state of calamity. Also under a calamity state is Pangasinan where 699 barangays in 43 towns and cities were still flooded, affecting 66,827 families.
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said there is a need to restudy the province’s flood control system, citing the megadikes he helped build in Mangaldan and Sison towns.
Meanwhile, two persons, including a two-year-old boy, drowned in Nueva Ecija where 12,347 families were displaced by floods that swept through 11 towns and three cities.
Aside from Cabanatuan City, the flood-stricken areas were the cities of Muñoz and San Jose and the towns of Cabiao, Guimba, Carranglan, Sto. Domingo, San Isidro, Zaragoza, Aliaga, Quezon, Licab, Cuyapo and San Antonio.
In Batanes, the entire Batan Island still had no electricity as of yesterday in the aftermath of typhoon "Marce" which battered the island-province for five days since last weekend. — Benjie Villa, Ding Cervantes, Eva Visperas, Manny Galvez and Jack Castaño III
Two houses buried in Baguio mudslide By Artemio Dumlao The Philippine Star 08/29/2004
BAGUIO CITY — It happened so fast.
Twenty-four-year-old Rosalina Collado recalled hearing a "deep and loud sound," which she likened to "a thousand water buffaloes outrunning each other downslope."
She grabbed a bagful of clothes and jumped out of her house. In a matter of seconds, her dwelling and a neighbor’s at the back of the posh Baguio Country Club were buried under tons of mud. Collado was one of those who survived the tragedy which occurred at about 4:10 p.m. last Friday. There were no reports of casualties.
All 26 families living downslope of Section A of the Country Club village, including the six families living in the two buried houses, are now seeking temporary shelter at a nearby day care center.
Barangay officials said they had warned the residents of Section A that the continuous rains might trigger a mudslide, but their warning was unheeded.
"Matigas ang ulo nila (They are hard-headed)," said one of the barangay leaders who refused to be identified.
Meanwhile, the calamity death toll in the Cordilleras has risen to three, while two others still missing. Vicente Tomazar, Cordillera chief of the Office of Civil Defense, said two of the fatalities were victims of landslides. They were identified as Kayang-ew Chumilang, 54, of Demang, Sadanga, Mountain Province, and Lorenzo Damilog of Poblacion, Tinoc, Ifugao. The third fatality, seven-year-old Jessica Tagtag, drowned in a river in Barangay Badeo, Kibungan, Benguet.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2004
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved