Negros Occidental hit by dry spell. STOCK IMAGE/INQUIRER FILES
BACOLOD CITY — The municipality of San Enrique in Negros Occidental was placed under a state of calamity amid the devastation brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.
The town’s council, in a special session on April 8, approved the recommendation of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as the damage to rice, sugarcane, and fisheries reached P9,951,589.70.
San Enrique Mayor Jilson Tubillara said the declaration would allow the local government to allocate its calamity funds to assist farmers affected by the drought.
The town council also passed a resolution, calling on the Department of Agriculture to conduct cloud seeding operations in Negros Occidental to induce rain.
READ: Almost 2,000 farmers now affected by drought in Negros Occidental
In San Enrique alone, about 6,000 families in all 10 barangays were affected by the humid weather.
Tubillara said the drought had dried up crops, wells, and fishponds in the municipality and affected 90 percent of its agricultural lands.
He said some rice farmers have shifted to planting watermelon, while fishponds had been transformed into salt beds to make ends meet.
The town government, he added, has started delivering water to residents of Barangay Tibsoc where wells have dried up.
READ: Drought gripping Negros Occidental, says Pagasa
The local health office has reported that cough, hypertension, diarrhea, allergies, common cough, and colds are becoming prevalent in San Enrique due to the heat.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has projected that El Niño would continue until May or June.
It was agreed during the town’s school board meeting that in-person classes be held only from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and that modular learning from home be adopted in the afternoons.