Farmers’ party-list distributes relief packs

APALIT -- Butil Farmers Party Representative Agapito Guanlao led the distribution of relief packs here to farmer flood victims housed in evacuation centers in Barangays Cabambangan and San Vicente here.

Guanlao told Sun.Star Pampanga that the relief distribution was made possible with the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Central Luzon and fund augmentation from the Butil Farmers Party.

Some 200 families benefited from the relief mission held at the San Vicente Elementary School here.

Guanlao said the relief goods are meant to help farmers recover from the recent disaster that left hundreds of hectares of farmlands here devastated. A total of 570 relief packs were distributed in the said areas.

Recently, the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Agricultural Statistics reported that Pampanga tops the list of provinces with most crop damages, with damages in Central Luzon reaching P583,563,206. This was based on the last unvalidated survey report of the DA.
The DA said some 16,079.01 metric tons of supposed harvest in Central Luzon was hit by floodwaters from the recent rains brought by the southwest monsoon. Pampanga’s palay crop damage is estimated to cost some P112,835,880 followed by Bulacan province with P64,110,728.

Tarlac province also sustained much damage to its palay crops with damages estimated to run at P51,775,948 and Zambales with P435,540 worth of damages.

In Pampanga alone, some 16,199.75 hectares have been hit by floodwater with some 8,737.80 hectares classified as destroyed.

Guanlao said he had also received serious complaints and petitions from farmer groups for the return of the seed subsidies. The Butil Farmers’ Party has also called on the National Government and Department of Agriculture (DA) to immediately implement rehabilitation plans to help farmers recover from the recent monsoon floods.

Butil Farmers Party led the distribution of relief pacts to 2,400 farmers and their families in Sta. Rita town who were affected by the recent floods. Butil Farmers Party Representative Agapito Guanlao said the distribution mainly provided canned goods and other necessities to the farmers who are badly affected by the flooding.