DA monitors prices in quake-hit areas

As DOLE gives emergency work for 500 displaced sugar workers

CEBU, Philippines - Days after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the first district of Negros Oriental, government efforts to ensure adequacy of basic agricultural food items continue through the Agri-business and Marketing Assistance Division of the Department of Agriculture 7 (DA 7).

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has already released a total of P13.02 million for the benefit of 1,648 workers displaced by typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in Mindanao and by the earthquake that hit Negros Oriental in Central Visayas.

DA Regional Executive Director Leo Cañeda was directed by Secretary Proceso Alcala for the immediate deployment of focal persons in Central Visayas particularly in areas most affected by the recent earthquake and landslides to ensure the availability and price stability of basic food items.

A P400,000-seed fund was given for DA 7 to purchase priority items such as meat, eggs, vegetables and fish products to be resold at pre-calamity market prices.  The focal persons, according to Cañeda, undertake daily monitoring of prices and availability of food supply, continuous analysis of price and supply trends for determination of appropriate interventions such as facilitating market linkage between producers and consumers to ensure stability of supply and price of commodities, among others.

To date, an estimated P5 million worth of food items have been sold by DA-assisted retailers in the earthquake-affected municipalities. 

DA intervention may be gradually pulled out from the municipalities of Tayasan, Jimalalud, Ayungon and Libertad this week, while for Guihulngan, the most affected area, is envisioned to be recalled next week yet.

DOLE, for its part, released P13.02 million for the benefit of 1,648 workers displaced by typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in Mindanao and by the earthquake that hit Negros Oriental in Central Visayas.

“Of this amount, P3 million has been released initially for the emergency employment of 500 sugar workers in La Libertad, Ayungon, Guihulngan, Himalalud, and Tayasan, all in Negros Oriental, under the DOLE’s TUPAD (Tulong-Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) Program. These municipalities were affected worst by the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Visayas,” said DOLE Regional Director Atty. Ma. Gloria A. Tango.

TUPAD is an emergency employment program of the Department aimed at helping displaced workers cope and recover from emergencies and other natural calamities. Under the program, displaced workers are provided with short-term wage employment as immediate source of income for their day-to-day living.

The fund for the TUPAD assistance to the earthquake victims came from the DOLE Adjustment Measures Program (AMP) and the capability building program of the Sugar Tripartite Council (STC). (FREEMAN)