DAVAO City Councilor Bernard Al-ag on Tuesday said that he is set to propose resolution for City Agriculturist Office (CAO) and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to fast track studies to confirm if the city can declare a state of calamity.
“We need to act now before the farmers come here and look for help,” Al-ag said, adding that different areas in the city especially in the Paquibato area have already felt the effect of the El Niño.
Al-ag said that while councilors are concerned about what happened in Kidapawan City, they cannot turn a blind eye on the farmers here as well.
Davao City Agriculturist Rocelio Tabay earlier confirmed that over 98 percent of crops in the city have already died and the affected barangays are still not finished with data collection to avail the necessary requirement to declare state of calamity.
Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Head Emmanuel Jaldon said that 30 percent of the means of livelihood were affected involving 40 percent of the population.
He said that they are they are still collecting data in order to know what kind of supplies and how many supplies are needed by people in a specific barangay. (Carrine Samantha Yem)