Palawan declares ‘calamity’ state to hasten aid to flooded areas

HELPING HANDS Personnel of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 11 assist in evacuating residents of flooded villages in Puerto Princesa City on Sept. 15, as the southwest monsoon brings heavy rains all over Palawan starting on Sept. 12. The continuous downpour lasted until Sept. 19. —PHILIPPINE MARINES-3RD MARINE BRIGADE PHOTO

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY— Still reeling from last week’s massive floods, the provincial board of Palawan on Tuesday approved a resolution placing the whole province in state of calamity to speed up release of aid to affected localities.

The declaration was based on the recommendation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) which, in a meeting last Monday, reported that the torrential rains spawned by he southwest monsoon (habagat) and enhanced by three successive weather disturbances from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19 displaced thousands of residents, and caused millions of pesos of losses in agriculture.

The declaration would allow the release of a P20-million Quick Response Fund (QRF), or 29.12 percent of the P68,688,086 QRF allotted for 2024, “to expedite all appropriate response, including the processing and release of calamity funds to mitigate the impact of said phenomenon.”

Board Member Ryan Maminta, who presided the PDRRMC meeting, noted that the badly-hit towns of San Vicente, Roxas, Taytay, Dumaran, Aborlan and Quezon have already placed their localities a state of calamity ahead of the provincewide declaration.

A total of 34,938 families (169,545 individuals) were severely affected by the floods and were housed in evacuation centers of different municipalities but all have since gone home, said a report by the PDRRMC on Sunday.

Damages, displaced folks

A total of 111 buildings including schools, roads, bridges were also destroyed but no amount was provided in the report.

Six tourism establishments in El Nido town were also affected with damage amounting to P380,600.

A total of 131 fisherfolk communities were also affected, losing P3,624,250, the report said.

The agriculture sector was hardest hit with 37,792 farmers affected and 10,936.79 hectares of farmlands damaged and P42,247,536 lost.

Aquaculture products worth of P4,741,350 were also destroyed in the town of Quezon while eight municipalities lost livestock worth P933,320.

The PDRRMC said nine deaths were recorded following the nonstop rains, with four coming from Balabac, four from Rizal and one from Roxas; three were injured in Rizal; and five remained missing in Balabac. INQ