THE Cordillera Regional Disaster and Risk and Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) formed a task force aimed to create preventive and immediate measures for forest fires.
In an emergency meeting Tuesday, February 26, called by CDRRMC chairman and Office of the Civil Defense Cordillera (OCD-CAR) director Albert Mogol, the task force was in response to impending El Niño phenomenon expected from March to May and the sporadic forest fires in Benguet Province which recorded five deaths last week.
“We created a joint inter agency task force composed of the government line agencies in the region headed by the DENR, BFP, OCD, DOT, DOH, AFP, PNP including the DICT for the communications which will come up with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for them to know their specific roles in addressing the effects of El Niño, aside from their responsibilities which is focused on one objective which is to prevent and mitigate the effects of El Niño to our constituents,” Mogol said.
In the latest report of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) as of February 27, 2019, there have been 60 forest fires recorded with the Province of Benguet having the most from January to February of this year.
“Because of the early entry of El Niño in the region, which started this February, we decided to call for this meeting. And what triggered this was the recent forest fires which happened here in our area wherein more than 50 forest fires have been recorded from January to February 26 of this year.
Five died in a forest fire February 20, 2019 at Sitio Sal-angan, Ampucao, Itogon, Benguet where storage area of the forestry department of the Philex Mining Corporation from the road burned down.
The fire reached its third alarm and casualties were identified as Philex Forester Dante Molina, Noel Dagiyem and Marlon Guinigin, aside from Dexter Labasan and Leon Mocate, all residents of the area.
“We will have to look at the possible effects of El Niño to our agriculture because of no rains aside from the forest fires which has a big impact to our environment, aside from what happened at Philex which claimed the lives of 5 persons,” the OCD Director stated.
Aside from the El Niño situation, CDRRMC is also looking out for the typhoon weather forecast believed to start after June and is urging agencies to plan contingencies as early as now.
“Pagasa (Philippine Atmospheric Geo Physical Astronomical Scientific Administration) presented the weather forecast from February to August wherein we saw that the rainy season would start in the month of July. Starting March, we will officially be experiencing the effects of El Niño and what are the consequences of this” Mogol added.
The CDRRMC is in the process of establishing a system where all agencies will know what to do before, during and after the effects of El Niño and the Typhoon season.