SAN MANUEL– “ Don’t panic.”

This was the message of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to the people in the Ilocos region over the dry spell being experienced in the area over the last few weeks.

Yap, in a talk to newsmen during his visit of the San Roque Dam Monday, said the weather condition is an effect of an extended dry spell in Northern and Central Luzon and not drought.

The situation, he pointed out, is not as serious as in 1996 and 2004 when Luzon suffered a severe drought.

“This year, we are not yet under El Nino. We are only under extended dry spell because at times, there were intermittent rains, precipitations,” Yap said.

        Yap said   the big rains must come after two weeks, otherwise it is back to square one again for farmers in Pangasinan and the San Roque Dam.

At the same time, he recommended to affected farmers to just plant short maturing crops such as vegetables and root crops so that they have something to harvest in the meantime.

He also said that possibly, the farmers can be given jobs in the clearing of river channels and irrigation canals for them to earn income while waiting their alternative crops to be harvested.

Yap admitted that the volume of water at the reservoir of San Roque is at very critical level.

“What should be stressed is that we are only experiencing extended dry spell and not under drought,” said Yap, quoting the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Yap revealed that affected by the dry spell are Regions 1, II, III and the Cordillera.

He went to San Roque Dam to assess its condition due to reports of a four-day shut down due to scanty water.

Tom Valdez, vice president of the San Roque Power Corporation, confirmed that San Roque indeed shut down as water in its reservoir was insufficient for power generation.

San Roque shut down its operations for four days after the Binga Hydro-electric Dam in the upper stream withheld all the available water for its own use in power generation.

Yap said he is worried about the prolonged dry spell in Regions 1, II and III because these are the major farm producing areas from which the nation depends most of its rice reserves.

Yap said the situation in Region III is a little better as he believes that the Pantabangan Dam as well as the Upper Pampanga River System can deliver water to some 100,000 hectares of farmlands.

While at San Roque, Yap had a dialogue with farmers seeking release of water of the upper Agno River withheld by Binga Dam.

He called up the president of the National Power Corporation who agreed to release 25,000 cubic meters of water per second for two weeks, 24 hours a day.

The two-week release will enable farmers tilling 10,000 hectares of land in Villasis, Urdaneta, Sta. Barbara and Manaoag.

CLOUD SEEDING

Meanwhile, cloud-seeding is continuing in the Ilocos region, said Police Regional Director Leopoldo Bataoil.

Cloud-seeding is an inter-agency activity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly the Philippine Air Force, DA, National Water Resources Board, Bureau of Soil Management and the National Power Corporation.

Bataoil, chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council in the Ilocos, said they have so far conducted two cloud seeding operations using a fixed wing  light plane of the PAF.—LM

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments