MANILA, Philippines?Damage to crops and agriculture infrastructure caused by the one-two-punch delivered by Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? (international codename: Ketsana) and Typhoon ?Pepeng? (Parma) has exceeded P6 billion, according to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

Yap on Monday said that the losses?broken down into P5.5 billion due to Ondoy and P550 million as a result of Pepeng?would likely rise after the waters receded.

He placed the damage to agriculture infrastructure, especially for irrigation, at P1 billion.

The agriculture secretary said some 200,000 metric tons of rice and 2,000 to 3,000 metric tons of vegetables were affected, while 10,000 to 15,000 metric tons of corn were damaged.

The impact of the losses on food security is ?negligible? because the country has adequate stocks, according to Yap.

In four provinces of the Bicol region, Pepeng destroyed some P75 million worth of crops, with rice production suffering the most, according to the Department of Agriculture.

A total of P65.7 million worth of rice in various stages of growth in 1,968 hectares of farmlands were greatly affected by flooding in the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes.

Marilyn V. Sta. Catalina, Bicol director for operations of the agriculture department, said the losses, based on field reports as of Oct. 3, accounted for just 1.5 percent of the total production target of the region.

Heaviest losses in CamSur

Losses in fruits and assorted vegetables were placed at P9.8 million, while those for corn were estimated at P189,935, according to Catalina.

?Camarines Sur province has the heaviest losses,? Sta. Catalina said.

She said the agricultural losses were expected to increase with the filing of reports from other municipalities and provinces in Bicol.

In Cagayan Valley, floods and strong winds generated by Pepeng did not kill anyone but officials faced mounting losses in agriculture, the region?s lifeblood.

Losses in agriculture had reached P1.85 billion as of Monday, said Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, regional police director and chief of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council.

The figure is expected to increase as reports from various provinces pour in. The provincial board Monday declared a state of calamity in Cagayan province.

In a report dated Oct. 4, the Department of Agriculture in Cagayan Valley pegged palay (unhusked rice) losses at P543.1 million.

Crop losses in Bulacan

The region also lost 1,475 metric tons of corn, and assorted produce and livestock valued at P589.30 million.

Gloria Carillo, provincial agriculture officer, said at least P658 million worth of crops, poultry and livestock was destroyed by Ondoy in Bulacan province.

In Nueva Ecija, provincial agriculture officials have started preparing measures to provide assistance to rice farmers whose crops were destroyed by floods spawned by Ondoy and Pepeng.

Serafin Santos, a provincial agriculturist, said about 46,000 hectares of rice lands, with palay either in reproductive or maturing stages, were destroyed.

The province has 187,000 hectares of land planted to rice this cropping season. The expected yield is a minimum of 825,000 metric tons.

?The reduction in expected harvest can be at least 10 percent,? Santos said.

Evacuation

Two days before Pepeng struck on Saturday, the government convinced 19,042 residents living along the coastlines or riverbanks of Isabela, Cagayan and Quirino to leave their homes and go to 254 evacuation centers.

But the region now has to help 29,769 families (117,466 people) that were displaced by the typhoon.

Antonio asked the local power distributor to speed up repairs in order to restore power in the province and in Tuguegarao City.

Residents of the city were told that it might take another three days for repairs to be completed because many power lines had been toppled by strong winds.

Eugene Cabrera, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) director in the Ilocos region, said the preemptive evacuation of residents living along coastlines, riverbanks and in flood-prone areas had helped prevent loss of lives.

Two drowned

At least two people died in typhoon-related incidents in Pangasinan and Ilocos Sur.

The Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council in Ilocos Sur said Della Cabjuan, 56, a resident of Santa Maria town, drowned in a flooded irrigation canal on Sunday night.

The OCD said Amadeo de Vera, 13, drowned in a river in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

Reports said Kyle Jose, 10, was swept by a strong current in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, and remained missing since Sunday.

In Ilocos Norte, heavy rains spawned by Pepeng flooded 19 towns, including the capital, Laoag City.

Lilian Rin, chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the province, said about 15,000 houses were flooded in 201 villages in Ilocos Norte.

Landslides

Floodwaters were waist-deep in Paoay and Nueva Era towns, while sections of Laoag experienced knee-high waters.

Reports said landslides blocked sections of roads in Bangui and Pagudpud towns. Roads and bridges linking Ilocos Norte and Cagayan were impassable due to landslides and floods.

In Ilocos Sur, at least 193 villages in 17 towns and two cities were flooded. Reports from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) pegged the initial damage to roads at P6 million.

Electric posts toppled

Landslides blocked roads going to the upland towns of Gregorio del Pilar, Sigay and Cervantes.

Close to 20,000 hectares of rice lands in the region were submerged in floodwaters.

Power supply had been cut off in some areas in Ilocos Norte as Pepeng uprooted trees and toppled electric posts and damaged transmission lines.

In Pangasinan, the dike along the Cabalasian River in San Nicolas is in danger of eroding due to strong river current.

Lack of equipment

In Benguet, the damage caused by Pepeng worried officials but what earned their ire most was the DPWH?s failure to operate backhoes and the province?s lack of equipment for rescue operations.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan slammed the DPWH Monday for failing to move fast and help in rescuing trapped families in several parts of the province during the typhoon.

?They told me they have no operators to run their equipment. I find that reason unacceptable since we are in the midst of saving lives and property,? he said.

But Albert Gahid, DPWH district chief, said his office had only one old backhoe.

Fatalities from landslides

Twelve people died, four of them minors, when their houses were buried in two separate landslides in La Trinidad and Itogon towns on Sunday.

In Bulacan, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said he would ask a United Nations assessment team to determine the actual extent of damage brought to Marilao, the town hardest hit by Ondoy on Sept. 26.

Teodoro brought six medical teams from the military to address cases of diarrhea and other diseases brought by floods.

Mayor Epifanio Guillermo said 15 of 16 villages in Marilao experienced floods 6 to 12-feet high last week.

Teodoro asked Guillermo to immediately find an evacuation area for the 160 families who were displaced by floods and who now stay in shanties along the MacArthur Highway. Reports from Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon; Cristina Arzadon, Leoncio Balbin Jr., Yolanda Sotelo, Vincent Cabreza, Delmar Cariño, Elmer Kristian Dauigoy, Estanislao Caldez and Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Anselmo Roque and Carmela Reyes, Inquirer Central Luzon