TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—Now with a whooping total of P10.3 billion, the Philippine Government expects that the assistance that it handed to individuals, communities and peoples organizations in the form of cash and livelihood funds do not go to waste.
Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Joey Villarama, who was in Bohol to brief the media covering the first official visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., urged Boholanos who would be receiving the Presidential Assistance for Farmers, Fisher folks and their Families (PAFFF) to spend their assistance in fertilizers, farm works and rehabilitation in support of food production.
Aside from the cash assistance from the President’s social funds, national government agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Philippine Center for Farm Mechanization and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources have also been channeled government funds to support farmers and fisherfolk prop up the country’s food production, but the long dry spell only proved to be too much for the farms.
With the last rains experienced in March, Boholano farmers have survived through three months of drought, even as the provincial government through the office of the Provincial Agriculture declared searing P460 million, affecting some 22,000 farm families.
Although some were still able to harvest in the first quarter of 2024, irrigation authorities have started to sound the alarm as early as April of the dry spell that already affected the watersheds which in turn critically reduced the inflow of water in Bohol dams.
National Irrigation Administration authorities said that the usual inflow of the Malinao Dam of 5 cubic meters per second has been drastically reduced to 1.5 cubic meters per second, taking an excruciatingly long time for the mega dam to fill and share its water to its integrated water impounding facilities downstream.
With the extreme heat rendering farms dry to cracking, irrigation authorities have started to redraw their service area plans, to make sure that whatever water is available can be sustainably given to farms that can prepare, soak, plant and harvest.
“If we open up and serve all service areas of Malinao Dam, the water could only last up to 15 days,” revealed Engr. Aproniano Añora, NIA hydrologist of the Malinao Dam.
With the reprogramming of the irrigation service areas, Boholano families whose farms could not be served by the water release this cropping season may have to go through tough times before they could produce again.
Or, they can also use the money for buying food for the family, Asec Villarama also continued.
About 7,634 Boholano farmers and fisherfolks are slated to get the PAFFF in ceremonial rites at the Carlos P Garcia Sports Complex in Tagbilaran City, June 28.
The presidential assistance, set at P10,000 per beneficiary, has been identified by LGUS who prepared the El Nino damage Reports and submitted them to the Department of Agriculture, according to Bohol DA Provincial Agriculture Technology Coordinating Officer Roman Dabalos.
He added that when the national government demanded the list of affected farmers and fisherfolk, some local government units did not submit, or submitted late that the list has already been forwarded to the DA Central Office.
When the LGUs learned that there was an assistance upcoming, that was the time when the LGUS started collecting and people started queuing, too late. (PIABohol)
