Palace reactivates task force on El Niño

Malacañang has ordered the reactivation and reconstitution of a task force dedicated to mitigating the effects of El Niño, which is expected to continue until the end of August.

Executive Order No. 38 on the reactivation of the El Niño Task Force was signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Aug. 13, which the Palace released on Friday.

The directive was issued two months after the weather bureau officially declared the start of the rainy season, but with the warning that weak El Niño conditions are “likely to continue” until August.

“Current climate models suggest that there is a 75-percent probability that the El Niño phenomenon will persist from June until August 2019,” the EO read.

It stressed that “the recurrence of the El Niño phenomenon calls for the implementation of both short and long-term solutions to ensure food, water and energy security.”

The presidential task force to mitigate the effects of El Niño will revise and update the Roadmap for Addressing the Impacts of El Niño (RAIN) crafted in 2015.

In 2015, the Philippines suffered a P15.2-billion loss in the agriculture sector as a result of the effects of El Niño that year.

EO 38 mandated that the presidential task force will be led by the socioeconomic planning secretary and director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

The agriculture secretary will be the head for food security; the environment secretary as head for water security; the energy secretary as head for energy security; the health secretary as head for health security; and the interior secretary as head for safety.