A church official and a non-governmental organization on Tuesday criticized the government for the delayed release of El Niño funds to farmers in drought-stricken areas.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa)/Caritas Philippines executive secretary, has expressed alarm over reports of the delayed release of government funds that would have eased the burden of farmers affected by the drought.
Nassa/Caritas is the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
According to Gariguez, the available funds from the national government, such as the Quick Response Funds (QRF), were not yet fully disbursed despite requests by local government units (LGUs) of areas hit by El Niño.
“What is taking them long from releasing these available funds? We have already seen enough bloodshed in Kidapawan, which rooted from the government’s inaction to this national concern,” Gariguez said in a statement.
The priest said a ranking official of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) confirmed that their “letter request for funding has not been acted upon despite follow-ups.”
“Time is of the essence here. The government needs to act now and disburse the funds intended for the farmers, who have suffered enough. Loss of livelihood means hunger for our people who are already living in poverty to start with,” he said.
Gariguez said the Department of Social Welfare and Development earlier claimed the availability of P1.32-billion QRF for 2016, and another P6.7 billion for the implementation of cash-for-work and livelihood assistance for families affected by El Niño.
“But these funds were not yet fully downloaded to the affected LGUs,” he said.
‘Excuse’
Meanwhile, multisectoral alliance Bantay Bigas (Rice Monitor) has recently expressed concern over the possibility of using El Niño as an “excuse for rampant, arbitrary and unplanned rice importation.”
In a separate statement, Cathy Estavillo, spokesman of Bantay Bigas, said the effects of El Niño to the country’s agriculture and food security cannot be discounted.
“We were definitely not prepared for this calamity.
However, the government must not use it as a justification for rampant importation of rice,” Estavillo said.
Citing data from the Department of Agriculture, Estavillo said the drought that has been devastating the country since last year has resulted in the loss of 383,743 metric tons of crops valued at P5.53 billion.
From February to March this year, she said some 252,176 hectares of agricultural land have been affected by El Niño.
Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council showed that a total of six provinces, 12 cities, 17 municipalities and two barangays have been declared under a state of calamity since 2015, according to Estavillo.
“As early as last year, the threat of this dry spell has been clear, but the government just shrugged it off. The effects are now blowing up in our faces,” she added.