Typhoons caused P800 million damage to infrastructure – DPWH

MANILA, Philippines — The damage caused by tropical storms Nika, Ofel and Pepito to public infrastructure reached over P800 million, the Department of Public Works and Highways said yesterday.

Citing a report of the agency’s Bureau of Maintenance (BOM), the damage caused by the three storms totaled P884.20 million, specified as P369.10 million to roads, P14.66 million to bridges and P500.42 million to flood control infrastructure.

According to BOM, a total of eight national road sections in Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley Region and Central Luzon remained impassable as of Nov. 22 due to flooding, landslide and broken bridges.

Among those reported as damaged are the Apayao (Calanasan)-Ilocos Norte road, Banaue-Hungduan-Benguet boundary road in Tukucan and Wangwang in Ifugao, Kiangan-Tinoc-Buguias road, Cagayan-Apayao road, Abbag-Nagtipunan junction in Nueva Vizcaya, Victoria-Maddela Alicia-Kasibu boundary road in Quirino and the Maddela-Dinadiawan road in Aurora.

The BOM also reported that several road sections in Luzon have limited access for vehicles. These sections include the Kennon road in Benguet and the Pangasinan-Nueva Vizcaya road in Barangay Malico, San Nicolas, Pangasinan.

P785 million damage to agriculture

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said the damage caused by the past three cyclones have more than doubled to P785.68 million.

The DA said Nika, Ofel and Pepito resulted in an estimated 30,366 metric tons of volume lost in the agricultural industry, affecting over 34,000 farmers and fisherfolk.

Rice was still the biggest hit sector, with P415.14 million in estimated damage, which is equivalent to a loss of 18,130 metric tons.

The DA said high value crops suffered a volume loss of 6,696 metric tons, or about P129.24 million in worth, followed by corn (P90.76 million) and cassava (P58.35 million).

It pegged the damage to irrigation systems, mostly in Northern Luzon, at P85.35 million.

The DA said over P145.08 million worth of agricultural inputs have been distributed to regional offices affected. — Romina Cabrera