Discrepancies blocked move to declare calamity state, says Acenas

DISCREPANCIES in documents from the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Office
prevented the city council from declaring barangays in the city under a state of calamity, Vice Mayor Ceasar Ian Acenas said.

“The city council is not against moves to place outlying
barangays in the city that have been affected by the dry spell under a state of calamity,” said Acenas in a statement from his office.

Acenas, who is former chair of the city council’s agriculture committee, said there was a need to declare 13 of even more barangays in a state of calamity so the local government could aid farmers suffering as a result of the dry spell. He said the city council also sees the need for city hall to release funds so as to plant more trees and vegetables, improve irrigation, and replace lost livestock, among others. But he said there were some discrepancies in the Consolidated Damage Assessment and Evaluation Report submitted by the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council Office.

These discrepancies, according to Acenas, stopped the city council from making the declaration. The Moreno administration has asked the city council to declare under a state of calamity these barangays: Baikingon,
Balubal, Bayanga, Dansolihon, Lumbia, Mambuaya, Pagalungan, Pagatpat, Pigsag-an, San Simon, Tagpangi, Tuburan ug Tumpagon.

The estimated damages were placed at some P56.552 million. Acenas said Councilor Alden Bacal met with barangay chairpersons to confirm the report, andnoted that some of the barangay offi cials were not able to complete their surveys. Despite that, they submitted their  lists of affected farmers. He said barangays Tumpagon and Balubal were among them.

The committee accepted reports from barangays Iponan and Besigan, and referred these to the CDRRMO for inclusion in the consolidated report. Meanwhile, Acenas proposed that immediate food assistance and enough water supply be extended to the affected areas.

Vice Mayor Acenas requested the representative of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to endorse the reports of the Agricultural Productivity Offi ce (APO) for possible funding from its national office. He also asked the DENR to look into affected forestral projects in the barangays.