The government should provide immediate livelihood for farmers hurt by calamities in the country, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Marcos noted that farmers often lost their crops to powerful typhoons that ravaged the countryside, leaving them without a stable source of income for several months.
“Simply put, in times of calamities or disasters and other emergency situations, farmers are always at a disadvantage,” she said.
“While farms hit by typhoons and other calamities are being rehabilitated, farmers must be given work to earn income to feed their families,” she added.
The governor said state agencies could conduct cash-for-work programs and temporarily hire affected farmers in repairing roads, farm dikes, water catchments and other damaged public infrastructure.
Loosen strict policy
“We owe it to our farmers to ensure they have a living income. It cannot be that the people who feed this nation are left to fend for themselves in emergency situations,” Marcos said.
At the same time, she said, the government should loosen the strict policy on the use of calamity funds to allow local governments to swiftly release financial aid to affected farmers. —MARLON RAMOS