Rehabilitate rice producing areas in Luzon

We urge the government to allocate funds to mitigate the damages to the country’s rice producing areas and help farmers recover quickly.

We need government’s intervention on our agricultural sector by securing our farmer’s yield on the next two croppings. At the most, we can only recover 50 percent of our harvest damaged by Pedring and Quiel. We ask the Department of Agriculture to subsidize palays for farmers and suspend irrigation fees for the next two croppings. Kung hindi natin gagawin ito, mababaon sa utang ang ating mga magsasaka at buong bayan ang maaapektuhan.

We also call for the immediate release of P500M state reserve funds throught the PCIC for farmers.Yang halagang iyan ay nakasaad sa charter ng PCIC. Dapat sana ay mailabas na sa lalong madaling panahon ang perang ito nang sa gayon ay hindi naman mabaon sa utang ang ating mga magsasaka. Isang kahig, isang tuka na nga sila, mababaon pa sila sa matinding utang dahil sa pananalanta ng bagyo.

Sa huli, hindi lang ang kabuhayan ng magsasaka ang isasalba natin dito. Nakasalalay din dito ang ating pagkain. Kalahating pursiyento ng ating suplay ng bigas galing sa Luzon. Maaaring hindi pa natin mararamdaman ang kakulangan karakaagad pero siguradong darating ito. Tulungan natin ang ating mga magsasaka at nang sa gayon ay maseguro natin na sapat ang suplay ng bigas sa bawat hapag kainan sa bansa.

Conduct regular barangay-based typhoon drills

We call on Local Government Units and other concerned agencies to include typhoon drills as part of their efforts in disaster preparedness.

As a means to strengthen disaster preparedness and educate our citizens on the necessity of evacuation operations and procedure during times of typhoons, LGUs and Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils should undertake typhoon drills on a regular basis.

Our schools and offices undertake earthquake drills regularly even if we have earthquakes perhaps once or twice a year, yet we do not have typhoon drills despite the fact that we have 20 typhoons hitting the country each year.

According to Local officials and rescue workers, when typhoons Pedring and Quiel hit, most homeowners refused to leave their property despite early warnings of flooding. This prompted a debate on whether the PNP and AFP should use forced evacuation procedures in such cases. Typhoon drills would address this concern as this will give the public the necessary information.

Disaster preparedness is the best way to ensure that lives are saved, and death and injuries brought down to a minimum. After visiting the disaster areas of Pampanga and Bulacan and conferring with local officials and our men from both the AFP and PNP, we see this drill as an effective way to educate and enlighten our citizens on the issue.