BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has ordered the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to create a task force to handle or study the effects of the El Niño phenomenon in Bacolod City.

Executive Assistant Jose Maria Vargas, head of the cluster of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO), said on Thursday, April 4, that they already met with Leonardia and were already ordered to create the task force.

The task force will be composed of personnel from DRRMO, City Agriculture Office, City Health Office, Environment and Natural Resources Office, City Health Office, Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa), and Central Negros Electric Cooperative.

“We will determine the affected areas in Bacolod like the water shortage problem so that we can come up with a plan to solve this problem,” he said.

DRRMO will hold a meeting with Baciwa next week to discuss the status of the water supply in the 61 barangays.

Vargas said it’s expected that El Nino will last until May or June.

“After the study, the task force will submit a recommendation to the city mayor so we can implement the plan,” he said.

In Negros Occidental, the damage to the sugarcane sector brought by the dry spell from the prevailing El Niño phenomenon was pegged at about P366 million.

Based on the Crop Damage Estimate Report of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, which was submitted to the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, the figure covers an affected area of 42,424.86 hectares. (MAP)