LA TRINIDAD, Benguet ? Officials here are waiting for the surest sign that the rainy season is over so they could start the repair work in areas devastated by Typhoon ?Pepeng??the arrival of migratory birds.

They said the arrival of the birds, locally called ?killing,? was a sign that the rainy season is over and whatever funds their communities have left could now be used to repair damaged roads and bridges.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan said officials are now restless over the depletion of calamity funds due to Pepeng.

He said officials fear that they may no longer have the resources to respond to their constituents? needs should another storm arrive before the year ends.

?But once the migratory birds would appear, there would be no more worry over how to replenish the calamity funds,? Fongwan said.

The trouble is that the birds are not yet here, he said.

?In the past, their arrival was a signal that the people should not worry anymore that another typhoon would come,? he said.

Mayors Artemio Galwan (La Trinidad), Felicio Bayacsan (Buguias), Concepcion Balao (Atok) and Ruben Paoad (Tublay) said they are now confronted with managing what is left of their calamity funds.

They said the province?s other towns?Togon, Bakun, Sablan, Tuba, Kabayan, Mankayan, Bokod, Kapangan and Kibungan?share the same problem.

?Most of us are fourth or fifth class towns. Our annual budget could only afford to allot meager funds for calamities,? Balao said.

She said Pepeng took almost all of the towns? annual local calamity funds.

In Atok alone, the funds were used to rehabilitate 61 interior roads and three provincial roads, Balao said. The same source of funds was tapped for relief goods.

Paoad said, ?Much as we would like to spend entirely our calamity fund, we could not since we are not sure if there would be no more weather disturbance. We might find ourselves hopeless with no single centavo to spend if we will release all our calamity funds now.?

Fongwan said even the provincial government faces the same problem.

Officials reported losses of P306.1 million in crops, P9.37 million in agricultural infrastructure and P12.52 million in farmlands.

Fongwan said the province has P26 million in calamity funds this year but much of it had already been spent.