MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte is in favor of the proposal to form a separate department for water-related concerns, believing it will prevent a repeat of the water service interruption experienced recently in parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the creation of a water department was one of the topics discussed during the 36th Cabinet meeting last Monday in Malacañang.

“It will synchronize all the acts from other agencies hopefully to prevent the occurrence of the water stoppage that we had last time,” he added.

Panelo said the creation of a water department would not add to the layers of bureaucracy because only one body would handle all water issues.

Last month, Socioeconomic Planning secretary Ernesto Pernia proposed the creation of a “Department of Water,” saying it would integrate all measures designed to ensure adequate water supply in the country.

Panelo previously said such agency may no longer be necessary because the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and water concessionaires were able to come up with a solution to the water crisis.

The creation of a water department is one of the proposals in a road map that seeks to mitigate the effects of El Niño and water shortage. The road map was also discussed during last Monday’s meeting, Panelo said.

He described the road map as something that would include immediate, medium and long-term interventions such as making an intensive campaign for the conservation of water and energy and creating a Department of Water and a Department of Disaster Resilience.

The other measures contained in the road map are the dredging of waterways, replacement of tunnels and aqueducts, installation of water tank systems in all hospitals under the health department and funding the establishment of water treatment plants.

At the same Cabinet meeting, National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro presented the proposed executive order that seeks to transform and strengthen the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

Panelo said the order would merge the NWRB and the River Basin Control Office into the National Water Management Council.

“This will streamline and consolidate planning and regulation of all water and river basins in the country. It will also draft a National Water Management Framework Plan,” the spokesman said.

P5-billion damage

The latest data released by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Disaster Risk Reduction Management Operations Center showed that the damage and losses from the weak El Niño have already increased to P5.05 billion from P4.35 billion in just two days, although significant increases are no longer expected.

This effect is equivalent to an estimated volume of 276,568 metric tons of agricultural products and 177,743 hectares of damaged agricultural areas, affecting 164,672 farmers and fisherfolk.

“I think this is already the peak of the damage report. It’s this big because these are the farmers who still planted after the typhoons last year,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a briefing on Tuesday. “We made enough efforts and information campaign that there will be an El Niño coming, but we can’t blame them for taking a chance (and still planted).”

The affected regions are the Cordilleras, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccsksargen and ARMM.

For rice alone, the damage has reached P2.69 billion affecting 111,851 hectares and production volume of 125,589 MT. For corn, damage has increased to P2.36 billion affecting 65,892 hectares of lands with volume loss at 150,978 MT.

Despite this, the DA maintained that it does not expect the damage to have an adverse impact on national production.

“Our losses in relation to our national projection will only be 0.63 percent for rice and 1.2 percent for corn,” Piñol said.

The DA has an estimated P2 billion worth of supply on hand and can be allocated right away. This includes P860 million under the quick response fund and more than P1 billion of combined funds from the department’s loaning programs.

It added that it continues to conduct field validation to assess the damage and losses, and monitor standing crops in areas at risk.

A total of P96 million in financial assistance from DA-attached agency Agricultural Credit Policy Council has been allotted under the Survival and Recovery Assistance Program that will benefit 3,835 affected farmers.

The processing of documents is now ongoing for areas declared under state of calamity due to El Niño, which include Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Cotabato, Maguindanao and Negros Occidental.

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. has so far paid P43 million of insurance to 3,534 affected farmers in the provinces of Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

To help ease the situation, the DA has prepositioned seed reserves for rice and corn and released nearly P20 million for various cloud seeding operations nationwide to its regional field offices and to the Philippine Air Force.

At least three sorties have been accomplished out of the 75 planned sorties to be done up to May 2019 as the state weather bureau PAGASA already said hotter days may begin this quarter coupled with lesser rainfall and dry winds and will likely affect 47 provinces in the country.

Starting this month, PAGASA said 42 provinces will experience a dry spell and 22 others will experience drought. The drought is expected to worsen by May.

In a visit to Bayambang in Pangasinan, Sen. Cynthia Villar told newsmen that she is pushing for the construction of more Small Water Impounding Project (SWIP) to address the scarcity of water during the dry spell brought by El Niño.

She cited a study that only four percent of the total rainfall is saved for use during the onslaught of the phenomenon.

“We need to construct many SWIP so that when there is heavy rainfall that results in flooding, the water can be saved,” Villar said as she urged Filipinos to be prepared for the onset of El Niño that affects their agricultural produce and their families.

Bulacan province is also preparing for the effect of the dry spell as the National Irrigation Administration announced that it would cut irrigation supply to several towns and cities in Bulacan and Pampanga. – With Louise Maureen Simeon, Eva Visperas, Ramon Efren Lazaro