Duterte puts Luzon in a state of calamity

IT HURTS A man carries a woman who cannot walk after injuring her left foot by stepping on a nail in the mud at Kasiglahan Village, Barangay San José, in Rodríguez, Rizal province, on Wednesday. The woman was trying
to recover belongings damaged by the flooding caused by Typhoon “Ulysses” when the accident occurred. —JESUS ​​ORBETA CHILD

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the entire island of Luzon in a state of calamity to allow national and local governments to more quickly deal with the widespread devastation caused by three successive typhoons and to respond quickly to pleas for help from residents whose lives have been affected by the disaster.

In a televised speech Tuesday night, Duterte said he signed the proclamation Monday night.

Malacañang, however, has not yet published the text of the proclamation.

But presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a television interview on Wednesday that prices of basic goods, especially food, would be frozen.

The proclamation will also allow local governments to spend their calamity funds without restrictions, he said.

“[Places] under a state of calamity it will become the area of ​​highest priority for all agencies in the provision of the necessary relief goods and, of course, the task of rehabilitation ”, said Roque.

Typhoons “Quinta” (international name: Molave) and “Rolly” (Goni) struck Luzon in late October and early November, and “Ulysses” (Vamco) swept through the island last week, exacerbating damage to devastated provinces. for the two of us. previous storms.

The three typhoons overloaded dams in the region, some of which spilled water to avoid catastrophic breaches. However, the spill aggravated the floods in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Benguet, Cagayan, Isabela, Rizal and other provinces of Luzon caused by Quinta and Rolly.

Ulises traversed the island overnight on November 12, overtaking the Magat dam in Isabela province, forcing operators to open spill gates to release water and prevent the dam from exploding.

The dam remained, but the spilled water reached the region’s rivers, which overflowed its banks and flooded swaths of Isabela and nearby Cagayan in what officials called the worst flooding they had seen in more than 40 years.

Lawmakers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are investigating the flooding.

On Wednesday, the House Food and Agriculture Committee, acting on a resolution introduced by President Lord Allan Velasco, Majority Leader

Martin Romualdez, and minority leader Joseph Stephen Paduano on Tuesday, scheduled a hearing on the floods in Isabela and Cagayan for Nov. 24.

The committee will convene local officials from the two provinces, as well as officials from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), who will be questioned about the release of water from the Magat dam at the height of Ulises.

Guidelines followed

“In fairness to everyone too, it would be very difficult to realize that maybe true enough, the NIA did their part, they were responsible enough in following their protocols, maybe local government officials didn’t get the proper warnings. We will find out everything at this hearing, ”said Quezon representative Mark Enverga, committee chair.

NIA chief Ricardo Visaya said he was open to any investigation into the release of water from the dam. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Visaya said the NIA had always been following guidelines dating back to 2006 that allow the release of water from the dam on the recommendation of the state meteorological service Philippine Astronomical, Geophysical and Atmospheric Services Administration (Pagasa ).

“Pagasa will tell us that we are at a preventive level, so we have to release water, and that is two to three days. . . before the typhoon hit, ”Visaya said.

He said the NIA sent a written communication to local officials about the water release on November 8, but “it’s as if our compatriots don’t believe it.”

Damage increases

However, he said, the NIA, along with Pagasa, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the National Energy Corporation and the National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, were reviewing the guidelines.

On Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture said the combined damage to crops and farms caused by the three typhoons had risen to P12.3 billion.

Quinta and Rolly had caused P8.46 billion in damages and losses and P3.84 billion of Ulysses, the department said.

The agency’s disaster council said 211,273 farmers and fishermen suffered losses, 325,676 hectares of farmland were damaged and 487,438 metric tons of produce destroyed.

The three typhoons devastated by the typhoons were Bicol, Calabarzon, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Zamboanga Peninsula.

In Bicol alone, Ulises caused P2 billion in damage to agriculture and infrastructure, the region’s Civil Defense Office said on Wednesday.

Gremil Alexis Naz, spokesperson for the agency’s regional office, said that damages to crops, fishing and livestock reached P128 million, and that the province of Camarines Norte lost P82.2 million; Camarines Sur, P38.5 million; Albay, P1.9 million; and Sorsogon, P308 million.

Damage infra

The region’s Department of Public Works and Highways office reported P1.9 billion in damage to national highways and P495 million to bridges. It also recorded P334 million in damage to flood control facilities and P1.1 billion to government buildings and infrastructure.

—Reports by Jerome Aning, Karl R. Ocampo, Julie M. Aurelio, and Mar S. Arguelles

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