• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council has recommended placing San Enrique under a state of calamity due to drought, Mayor Jilson Tubillara said Friday.
Damage to agricultural crops has reached P10 million, with nine of 10 San Enrique barangays affected by the drought as a result of the El Niño phenomenon, according to Tubillara.
Badly affected were rice fields and sugarcane plantations, while fishponds are now drying up, the mayor said.
Tubillara reported that about 6,000 families were affected by the severe weather condition.
He expects that the Sangguniang Bayan will approve the recommendation of MDRRMC during its regular session Monday next week.
Tubillara said water rationing is also ongoing in Brgy. Tibsok due to shortage of water.
The MDRRMC, he added, is also calling for the Department of Agriculture to conduct cloud seeding operations.
Tubillara said that the municipal health unit is also facing shortage of medicines for cough and other related ailments, including medicines for hypertension, due to severe heat being experienced by town residents. | GB
