Release of funds to mitigate effects of El Niño urged

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Loren Legarda has urged the government to immediately release funds for projects intended to minimize the effects of El Niño or dry spell..

Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, cited the report of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geographical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) which confirmed the presence of a moderate El Niño in the country which the agency said could extend the dry or rainless spell up to May or June this year. 

“El Niño is the unusual warming of the sea surface temperatures along the equatorial Pacific that is usually characterized by below-average rainfall,” Legarda, who also chairs the Senate committee on climate change, explained.

“Funds to be released for irrigation projects should be given top priority to enable the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to undertake immediately the repair, restoration and rehabilitation of existing irrigation systems,” she said.

Since this year is election year, Legarda urged the Department of Agriculture to make that the funds for irrigation will be strategically disbursed and rightly spent and would not be used as campaign funds.

Legarda, who also chairs the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM), said the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) mandates that the 30 percent of the yearly AFMA fund must be allocated and disbursed for irrigation projects.