GMA okays release of P2 M for victims of ‘Auring’

President Arroyo ordered Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor yesterday to release P2 million in financial assistance to 3,100 farmers in the Caraga region, whose crops and livestock were destroyed by typhoon "Auring" this week.

Speaking before the third Mindanao Food Congress hosted by the Mindanao Business Council at the Butuan City Gymnasium yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo said the P2 million will be used to buy rice, corn, vegetable seeds and hogs for distribution to the farmers.

Montemayor told The STAR Auring ravaged at least 15,387 hectares planted to rice and another 1,212 hectares planted to corn, causing a total estimated damage of P58 million.

"This situation requires an immediate response from government to sustain productivity and to boost the morale of the affected farmers through an assistance program that will help them recoup their losses," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo said natural calamities like typhoons derail government programs to make "full use" as the country’s "food basket" the vast and fertile agricultural lands of Mindanao.

"What this administration is doing is to hasten the realization of Mindanao’s dream to be the country’s food basket and this is consistent with my core belief that a basic strategy of our growth is agricultural modernization but founded on social equity," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said her administration cannot undertake Mindanao’s full rehabilitation because of the government’s projected P225 billion budgetary deficit.

"Many of you are asking for funding increase," she said. "Let me be honest with you. We have inherited a budget deficit of P225 billion. This is the biggest deficit by far in our history and that is why we are seeking to do more but less."

Mrs. Arroyo said she was concerned with official statistics and facts about the socio-economic condition of Mindanao when compared with those of other parts of the country.

"Consider the following facts: Mindanao, especially the Muslim provinces, has the highest poverty incidence, 50 percent of its people compared to one third of the rest of the Philippines," she said. –Marichu Villanueva and Rommel Ynion