Food shortage looms in Western Visayas
By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:44:00 06/30/2008
Filed Under: Food, Typhoon Frank, Fishing Industry, Sulpicio ferry disaster, Government Aid
MANILA, Philippines—Western Visayas is likely to face a “food shortage” in the coming days because of the damage wrought by Typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) to its agriculture and infrastructure, a Palace executive said Sunday.
“That’s the extent of the damage,” Assistant Secretary Raul Banias, presidential assistant for the Western Visayas, told reporters in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
Some 22,000 hectares of rice land, which would have produced about 66,000 metric tons of rice, were destroyed in the region.
“We would have harvested our rice grains next month, but there’s nothing to harvest now,” Banias said, adding that poultry, livestock and fisheries were “almost wiped out.”
A total of 10 bridges were also destroyed, restricting the delivery of farm products to markets in the region.
Banias said the food shortage might last for a month or two because relief goods, although promptly delivered, were trickling in.
He said the damage to crops was “one of the major problems” that would take some three months to rehabilitate.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) put the provisional death toll in Western Visayas at 322. The RDCC reported 288 people remained missing and 723 others suffered injuries. The typhoon affected an estimated 1.8 million people in the region.
Fishing ban
In a fishing village on Sibuyan Island in Romblon province, fishermen and their families are also facing hunger.
Robert Naiya looked out across the still waters toward the bow of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars and asked: “What about us?”
“We should be out fishing today,” Naiya said, but a government ban meant that Naiya and his friends would just have to sit on their colorful boats that dot the beach, talking and wondering what the future holds.
The 24,000-ton passenger ferry capsized during Typhoon Frank on June 21 with more than 850 people on board in this picturesque bay on the south coast of Sibuyan Island. There were fewer than 60 survivors.
While lamenting the huge loss of life, Naiya felt he and others living in this and other coastal towns are the forgotten victims of the tragedy.
Toxic pesticide
The government suspended all diving operations to recover bodies inside the vessel and banned fishing around the island on Friday after it was revealed the ferry was carrying a highly toxic pesticide.
The crescent-shaped island has one of the country’s most diverse marine ecosystems. Should the chemicals leak into its pristine waters, the impact on local marine life would be devastating, according to marine biologists.
With their houses devastated by the typhoon and their livelihood on the line, people like Naiya are being forced to beg for food from relatives to feed their families.
Hungry children
“I have four hungry children,” Naiya said. “We have no rice, no money. Now we can’t even go out to sea to fish. That’s all we have got. We are a poor people.”
“Aid from the government has been slow,” he said as he put his blue motorized boat on dry dock in Espana, a small fishing village.
Health officials are now conducting tests on water samples taken from the area, and while initial results showed no contamination, experts are taking no chances.
In the meantime, the poor fishermen are wondering what will happen to them. “What about us?” the 50-year-old Naiya asked.
“What about the fishermen of Sibuyan? The sea is all we know. We have been fishermen all our lives, how will we live?”
The local village chief, Donato Royo, said most of the 600 families living in Espana rely on the Sibuyan Sea for their livelihood.
“Our livelihood has been paralyzed by this ferry,” Royo said, as he appealed for aid from the government.
“Our children’s main staple is rice and fish. Rice is in short supply because of the typhoon and now the government has taken away our right to fish,” he said.
Marine biologist Emmanuel Asis, the provincial fisheries officer, said there was no clear evidence of contamination, but if the pesticide should get into the water the impact would be devastating to local marine life.
Greater good
“It could kill fish, kill the corals and lead to the degeneration of the water quality here,” Asis said.
He said he understood the plight of the fishermen, but “sometimes we have to sacrifice for the greater good.”
“We should not panic,” Asis said, adding that he believes the problem could be dealt with swiftly once salvage crews pinpoint the cargo’s exact location and take it out of the sea.
Defense Secretary Guilberto Teodoro, who flew into Sibuyan on Saturday to supervise relief operations, said a 15-man crew of foreign and local experts would shortly make a detailed inspection of the ferry.
In the meantime, he said the national government was aware of the plight of local residents and would fly in tons of relief goods, including canned food to provide an alternative diet for the islanders.
For local residents such as Nayia, the food will be welcome but the big question will be the future and when they can get their boats back into the water. With a report from Agence France-Presse
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