Ondoy ruins P307-million Ecija crops

CABANATUAN CITY , Philippines  –  Agriculture and disaster officials have placed the damage to agricultural crops in Nueva Ecija at P307.9 million at the height of tropical storm Ondoy, jeopardizing production in this predominantly agricultural province even as a local government unit was accused of bloating its damage assessment figures.

Water released from the Pantabangan Dam also caused flooding in Barangay Ganduz in Pantabangan and rendered impassable Friday the bridge connecting the town to Rizal as well as another bridge connecting Rizal to Bongabon.

Abraham Pascua, provincial director of the Department of the Interior and Local Governments and co-chairman of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, said that based on field assessment of the reported damage, 41,8409 hectares of rice lands were destroyed by flash floods brought by Ondoy. The typhoon also destroyed 426 hectares of vegetable plantations, costing P6.9 million.

Pascua said that based on the latest damage assessment, the town of Llanera suffered the worst damage of P73 million after 2,576 hectares of rice lands were submerged under water. The amount, however, was only an initial estimate.

Other towns which suffered extensive damage were Sto. Domingo (P70 million), Licab (P49 million), Carranglan (P43.1 million) and Nampicuan (P43 million).

Also damaged were agricultural lands in the towns of Aliaga, Bongabon, Cuyapo, Gen. Natividad, Gen. Tinio, Guimba, Jaen, Laur, Licab, Pantabangan, Peñaranda, Quezon, Rizal, San Antonio, San Isidro, San Leonardo. Sta. Rosa, Sto. Domingo, Talavera, Talugtug and Zaragoza and the cities of Cabanatuan, Gapan, Muñoz and Palayan.  

The damage assessment report of the Llanera municipal government, however, was marred by controversy after it was reported that the actual figures were “bloated.”

Some agriculture officials have reportedly been questioning the P73-million damage claims of Llanera, claiming it was too big.

Actual situation

But Mayor Lorna Vero told The STAR in a phone interview that their damage assessment represents the actual situation in the town. She said that up to 9,700 hectares of agricultural lands in her town were destroyed, or an average of 20-30 cavans per hectare. “These are foregone harvests. Farmers will no longer earn. If people are saying our damage report was bloated, how?” she said.

She dared officials of the Department of Agriculture to personally come to Llanera to see the actual extent of the damage. “Come here and show me where the supposed bloating was done,” she said.               

Serafin Santos, provincial agriculturist, defended Vero’s figures, saying it is still premature to say whether the municipal government’s figures were bloated or not. “We are talking here of palay in the booting and vegetative stage and there is a certain matrix we use in assessing the damage. Of course, their report is still subject to validation by our fieldmen,” he said.             

Moreover, Pantabangan Mayor Romeo Borja Sr. said that the National Irrigation Administration was justified in ordering the release of water from the dam reservoir since there is a coming typhoon. “It is better for them to release water now when there is still no rains than when the typhoon and rains are already there,” he said.

He said that people tend to think that when there is severe flooding even during heavy rains and typhoons, this is caused by the release of water from the dam. “People forget that Pantabangan Dam was not only built to generate irrigation and power but also to serve as flood control. Once water has been released gradually, the dam’s reservoir can then impound water during the time it is raining,” he said.