Santi leaves P46-M damage in CL military camps

MANILA, Philippines - Major military camps in Central Luzon also felt the wrath of Typhoon Santi, which left the Philippine area of responsibility last week.

The typhoon damaged more than P46 million worth of infrastructure and properties in two major camps, a damage assessment report by the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) showed.

Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, which hosts the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and the Special Forces Regiment, sustained damage worth P32.07 million

Meanwhile, Camp Servillano Aquino in Tarlac incurred an estimated loss of P14 million. The camp serves as the headquarters of Nolcom, which oversees the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and Benham Rise.

The amount of property damage in the main Nolcom headquarters reached more than P10 million while that of the Armaments and Ammunitions Battalion totaled P3.7 million.

The report does not include other major camps like the Clark and Basa air bases in Pampanga and the Rangers’ Camp Tecson in Bulacan.

“Other minor camps within central Luzon are not also included in the report and the actual figure may even be higher,” said Maj. Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ 1st Civil Relations Group.

Meanwhile, a party-list representative is seeking increased insurance for crops damaged by monsoon rains and typhoons like Santi, which destroyed thousands of hectares of mature palay crops over the weekend.

Rep. Anthony Bravo of the party-list Cooperative Network Party has filed a bill that would allocate 10 percent of the agricultural competitiveness enhancement fund (ACEF) for crop insurance.

He said the allocation would boost funding for the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), the state firm mandated to provide insurance to farmers.

He said ACEF is a fund generated from tariffs imposed on agricultural products and is managed by the Department of Agriculture (DA).

He said DA officials have estimated that Santi and other typhoons that have visited the country have destroyed P2.9 billion of crops, mostly rice.

In Central Luzon, the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, citing initial reports, placed agricultural losses left by Santi at P2.92 billion.

Of the damage, palay losses amounted to P2.77 billion, while high-value crops and fisheries incurred damage placed at P157.5 million and P2.53 million, respectively. – With Ric Sapnu, Jess Diaz