MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos yesterday visited Batanes and Ilocos Norte, two of the areas hardest hit by Super Typhoon Julian.
Marcos turned over P42.78 million in financial assistance to 7,088 families or 21,348 people affected by Julian in Batanes. He also ordered the swift rebuilding of houses damaged by the super typhoon.
Julian destroyed 276 houses and damaged 2,048 others in the province.
Batanes Gov. Marilou Cayco has requested for galvanized iron sheets, house repair kits and tarpaulins.
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Undersecretary Randy Escolango said they are ready to extend P30,000 in financial assistance to families whose houses were totally damaged, and P10,000 each for those with partially damaged shelters.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said they are making available the largest utility vessel of the Philippine Navy for deployment, along with one C130 unit, to continuously shuttle materials and potable water to affected residents in Batanes.
From Batanes, the President visited Ilocos Norte, where he turned over P100 million in cash assistance to Ilocos Norte Gov. Matthew Marcos Manotoc.
According to Manotoc, three people died in the province due to Julian, two due to drowning while one had a heart attack in the evacuation center.
Manotoc added Julian affected 35,000 families and left an estimated P638,044,625 worth of damage to infrastructure and P350,883,076 worth of damage to agriculture.
During a situation briefing in Ilocos Norte, Marcos said siltation has become a serious problem in Ilocos Norte causing torrential flooding.
Ilocos Norte was placed under a state of calamity due to Julian.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said agricultural damage and losses due to Julian have reached P481.27 million, affecting 20,134 farmers.
The typhoon damaged 13,488 hectares of agricultural land with an estimated volume of production loss of about 19,151 metric tons (MT).
The DA noted that the rice sector suffered the brunt of the typhoon’s wrath, with production losses amounting to 17,585 MT across 12,832 hectares of farms worth P348.42 million.
The DA said it has P164.27 million worth of agricultural inputs available for distribution to affected farmers.