For El Niño, City Council declares state of preparedness

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City is now under a state of preparedness after the City Council approved the measure to appropriately spend the allocated funds set aside for the dry spell that is expected to hit by next month.

The City Council is setting aside P5.2 million for agricultural equipment and veterinary medicines to aid farmers in at least 31 mountain barangays, which was approved from the Council’s committee on Budget and Finance.

Councilors David Tumulak, Gerardo Carillo, Mary Ann Delos Santos, James Cuenco and Hanz Abella declared that the City of Cebu under a state of preparedness in connection with the El Niño expected to hit the country by June.

Also, the city government will make other action plans and preparations to reduce or minimize the ill-effects of the long drought.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration already released an advisory that the El Niño is expected to hit the country next month and is forecasted to last until the first quarter of 2015.

Further, it is expected that rainfall will be way below the average as compared to normal conditions. At present, Cebu City is experiencing a temperature between 26 to 34 degrees Celsius.

Several ill effects are expected to result from the dry season such as very low agricultural production, scarce food supplies, undesirable state of health of the people, high morality of livestock and farm animals, among others. —(FREEMAN)