USWAG ILOILO landmark installed for a picture perfect for tourists and cyclists the river park known as the Iloilo Esplanade. –Arnold Almacen/Iloilo City Mayor’s Office/file photo
ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The provincial board of Iloilo on Tuesday placed the province under a state of calamity due to damage wrought by the El Niño phenomenon on agriculture, which topped P1 billion.
The declaration, which was recommended by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), enables the provincial government, through the PDRRM Office (PDRRMO), to utilize P75.78 million in allocated funds for its El Niño response activities.
Iloilo is the second province in Western Visayas region to declare a state of calamity after neighboring Antique on April 18.
READ: El Niño sends 131 areas into state of calamity
PDRRMC Resolution No. 6 series of 2024, which recommended the declaration, originally indicated P110.78 million in allocation for El Niño response, but the approved allocation was reduced by P35 million.
Only P12.78 million will be coming from the province’s quick response fund (QRF), while the rest will come from the funds of the PDRRMO.
Assistance
At least 852 affected farmers in the towns of Cabatuan, Igbaras, Leon, Miagao, Tigbauan and Tubungan will receive two piglets each so they can raise these as an alternative source of livelihood.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said they resorted to this assistance because piglets would not need much water to raise.
The province’s other aid expenses include a crop insurance assistance for 5,000 farmers (P10 million) and 100 pump irrigation projects in affected towns (P20 million).
The QRF allocations include P2.78 million for the piglets and P10 million for the crop insurance.
Environmental responses include 10 large-scale cisterns to be constructed in the province’s nine district hospitals and the provincial capitol complex (P15 million) and the establishment of small-scale water impounding dam and micro and mini hydropower plants (P5 million).
The Provincial Veterinary Office will handle the distribution of 500 bottles of antibiotics (P500,000), 2,000 boxes of multivitamins, amino acids, and electrolyte solutions (P2 million), and 100 bottles of injectable antibiotics (P500,000) for farm animals.
Data cited by the PDRRMO showed that the province recorded P1.025 billion in El Niño-related losses, mainly in the agricultural sector.
These include damage to rice crops (P653 million), corn (P219 million), other high-value crops (P136 million), fisheries (P16 million), and livestock and poultry (P196,552).
Twelve of 43 local governments in Iloilo earlier placed their localities under a state of calamity. Among these were the towns of Sara, Estancia, Bingawan, Balasan, Dingle, Lemery, San Dionisio, Banate, Barotac Viejo, Ajuy and Mina, and the component city of Passi.