Marcos to release EO on El Niño soon

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is expected to issue an executive order (EO) on state efforts to brace for the impact of the El Niño which is expected to bring dry spells throughout the country next year, Defense Secretary Gilberto Eduardo C. Teodoro, Jr. said on Tuesday.

“The President will issue an order so that we can prepare for it (El Niño) early and find quick interventions and monitor the possible effects of Niño,” Mr. Teodoro, who heads the national task force on El Niño, told a Palace briefing following a Cabinet meeting.

At the same briefing, Science and Technology Secretary Renato U. Solidum, Jr. said a strong El Niño is expected to continue from the end of this month to January next year, adding that its effects would be felt until May.

He said the peak of the drought associated with El Niño would be in April, with about 63 provinces experiencing its effects. Mr. Solidum said this new forecast projects the peak earlier than May, as previously expected.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) defines a drought as three consecutive months of below-normal rainfall or two straight months of significantly below-normal rainfall. A dry spell means two straight months of below-normal rainfall.

Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said Angat Dam in Bulacan, which is the source of potable water in the National Capital Region, still has enough supply for now but cited the need to produce useable water for residents that will be affected by dry spells and drought.

She said the province of Cavite is looking to start developing a bulk water project in January, also citing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources planned 135 water projects nationwide.

“The President’s instruction is to have our infrastructure investments be multi-purpose,” Ms. Loyzaga said at the same briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

“So that one investment in a kind of infrastructure can generate several values… whether for irrigation or eventually for water supply and distribution as well,” she said.

Mr. Marcos earlier said the Department of Agriculture was looking into the potential effect of El Niño on the prices of agricultural products for state agencies to come up with countermeasures.

The country’s task force on El Niño has developed an online interagency database that consolidate data on El Niño. — John Victor D. Ordoñez