By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/Philippine News Agency
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The municipality of Sibalom in this province is now in a state of calamity due to the damage caused by the dry spell.
The resolution declaring the town under state of calamity was passed last April 5 and a copy was furnished to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office on April 16 by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office.
Luna Moscoso, chief of the DSWD Disaster Response and Management Office Division, made the announcement during the Regular Quarterly Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) meeting on Wednesday.
A report by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office to the DSWD regional office showed that 10 barangays with 897 families or 4,967 individuals who are mostly farm laborers were affected by El Niño.
These are Barangays District II with 120 families, or 720 persons; Igdamay with 94 families, 564 persons; Iglanot with 38 families, 228 persons; Inabasan with 45 families, 260 persons; Indag-an with 35 families,175 persons; and Initan with 70 families and 350 persons.
Other barangays are Lacaron with 230 families, 1,380 persons; Nazareth with 40 families, 240 persons; San Juan with 150 families, 600 persons; and Villahermosa with 75 families, 450 persons.
“I am now coordinating with the LGU of Sibalom to find out the assistance they have extended to the affected families so that the DSWD could augment,” she said.
Moscoso said that the DSWD has enough relief goods to be extended to the affected families.
Meanwhile, based on the resolution coming from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC), “there were seven barangays in the municipality that declared their respective barangays under a state of calamity.”
The Municipal Agriculturist in its report also cited “widespread destruction of crops, livestock, and other agricultural products and that water rationing had been resorted to by upland barangays for their daily use due to the scarcity of water supply caused by prolonged dry season.”
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