By YOLLY Z. SOTELO

THE provincial government of La Union has released P3 million of its calamity fund to extend emergency assistance and rehabilitate affected ricelands in the province. This, after La Union Governor Manolo Ortega declared the province under a state of calamity. Reports said more than half of La Union rice lands have been affected by drought.

A report of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council also showed that 51 percent of the riceland in Pangasinan already planted to rice, is also severely affected by drought. This is especially true in western Pangasinan which is mostly rainfed.

But I wonder why the provincial government has not declared the province under a state of calamity.

I learned that the provincial agriculturist office cannot do its usual monitoring because the vehicles they used in going around the agricultural areas, were all “withdrawn” by the General Services Office. Only one was left, and the office can use it only up to Monday.

With a crisis staring us in the eye, the provincial agricultural office should get all the support it needs.

I wonder if the provincial governor knows about this?

Sure, the PDCC has convened twice. But the agriculturist office should take a very active part in trying to come up with solutions. With all the years of experience, the people there know what to do.

It was good that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap was here last week and ordered the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam Project to open its irrigation gates, which it had closed to conserve water for power generation.

Between power generation and agriculture, I think Yap was right in going for agriculture. And not because it’s his turf, but because a lot of people will go hungry if farmers cannot plant. The farmers themselves will be the first to go hungry, especially the marginal ones.

Had Yap not intervened, the dam’s irrigation gates would have been still closed – to the detriment of the parched lands..
But that was the initiative of Yap. Not the provincial government’s.

In Pangasinan, 91,519.71 hectares, or 51.24 percent of the province’s rice area (178,616.91) are affected by drought (or extended dry spell, if Yap’s terminology is to be followed), according to the PDCC.

Severely affected are the towns of Bani where 98 percent of rice land already planted to rice are critical, Dasol (96%), San Manuel (94%), Burgos (92%), Alaminos City (88.78%), Sison (88%), Infanta (87.7%) and San Carlos City (85%).

The RDCC report showed that 18,000 hectares in La Union, 11,400 hectares in Ilocos Sur and 1,160 hectares in Ilocos Norte, were affected by the drought.

Pangasinan has the biggest affected area. But the calamity fund is yet to reach the farmers because the province has not been declared under a state of calamity.

Why?