Northern Cebu after Yolanda: Tourism and agriculture struggling, recuperating

CEBU, Philippines - A year after super typhoon Yolanda brought destruction in the Central Philippines on November 8 last year, the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas are still ongoing.

Survivors have struggled to get back on their feet, trying to recover what they have lost and start a bustling life again.

And as typhoon victims slowly recuperate, so too the local economy of Central Visayas, particularly of Northern Cebu, which was badly destroyed by one of the strongest typhoons to ever hit the Earth.

The disaster had a direct impact on the economic performance of the region as various sectors such as the agriculture and tourism were paralyzed for months.

It left a significant dent especially on the production performance of the poultry sector. Majority of the poultry farms in Northern Cebu, a major producer of poultry products in the region, were destroyed by Yolanda.

According to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the poultry production registered a negative growth of 1.7 percent at the end of 2013, after growing at 1.1 percent during the third quarter of the year.

Today, some industries have continued to struggle with the vastness of the destruction Yolanda has brought to the people and the local communities.

The National Economic and Development Authority in Central Visayas claimed the local tourism and agriculture industries in the hard hit places have not yet fully recovered until now because of the degree of Yolanda's impact to the industry.

Regional Director Efren Carreon of NEDA-7 said that based on reports he received from some resort operators in Northern Cebu, industry players in the tourism sector are likewise struggling to rise from the havoc.

"Although they told me that they have started receiving new visitors and they have been rebuilding," Carreon told The FREEMAN in an interview, noting that typhoon Yolanda and even the October 15 Bohol earthquake last year have shown impact in different sectors through the first half of this year.

"We're trying to see if the trend has continued in the third quarter. It (the reconstructi on) takes time (months or even years) gyud because of the lingering effects it brought to the regional economy," the director stated.

The official also reported that based on the feedback he received, several farmers and sugar planters in Bogo City, one of the disaster-hit areas,  have not yet returned to their normal livelihood.

In fact, some of them have temporarily stopped from farming and worked in the construction because of the demand for work in the sector.

Reconstruction phase

According to the NEDA, the government has shifted efforts from relief to reconstruction in places affected by the catastrophe.

After months of initial relief phase, the attention is now being focused in speeding up the implementation of reconstruction spending.

In a World Bank report, the government has secured P162 billion or around 1.4 percent of the gross domestic product in the 2013 and 2014 budgets to support the reconstruction phase for Yolanda, the 7.2 magnitude Bohol quake and other smaller disasters.

Since 2013, the Department of Budget and Management has already disbursed P51.98 billion from the national budget for the rehabilitation plan.

President Benigno Aquino only recently approved the P167.9 billion rehabilitation master plan for the storm-hit communities in Eastern Visayas, Northern Cebu and other provinces.

Carreon disclosed that based on his estimates and the plan submitted by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, Central Visayas may get around P10 billion for the infrastructure development and resettlement projects for Yolanda victims in the region.

Execution status

The NEDA official further stressed that the biggest challenge of the government now and various government implementing agencies is to quickly bring restoration developments on active and execution status amid the bottlenecks.

The economic planning agency said physical works have significantly ramped up in the second half of this year after the release of the budget from the General Appropriations Act.

And with the recent approval of the rehab fund, Carreon believed that construction activities would further intensify in 2015 and onwards.

"The rehabilitation activities will ramp up kay resources will be made available with the approval of the rehab plan and the releases of the funding," he further said.

The event is expected to trigger higher demand for construction materials, create employment and spur additional production of materials among manufacturing companies.

Eye-opener

Yolanda should have been an eye-opener to the government, business community and to the people, he said. Economic gains have now become more vulnerable to external factors like disasters as they are immediately negated and impacted when a calamity strikes.

Thus, the NEDA director pointed out, this should propel businesses and also the government to come up with disaster-resilient programs and projects now and engineering firms to build solid and durable infrastructures.

"These are the changes we hope to see. We see that there is already an improvement," he mentioned, expressing hopes that the commitment to "build back better" principle could now be realized.

The regional NEDA is expecting the gross regional domestic product rate of Central Visayas to reach around eight percent. Last year, the region's GRDP growth decreased to 7.4 percent from 9.3 percent in 2012.

It is also eyeing to attain an average GRDP growth rate of 9.9 percent by 2016 and fast track the rehabilitation and recovery efforts caused by major disasters that hit the region. (FREEMAN)