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It’s a
familiar story at this time of the year. Typhoons
spawned from high above the Pacific Ocean move slowly
westward, dumping torrents of rain on the provinces on
our eastern flank before cutting a wide swath throughout
Luzon, flooding
low-lying areas and leaving a trail of death and
destruction in their wake.
Tropical
storms “Chedeng” and “Dodong” came in quick succession
last week after a prolonged dry spell, and promptly
turned parts of Luzon into virtual tributaries of the
Pacific.
The
heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in some areas
of southern and central Luzon, including Metro Manila,
displacing thousands. The rains are now gone, but
flooding persists in some areas of central Luzon.
The
economic cost is only now beginning to emerge, and it’s
not encouraging at all. In Bulacan, the estimated
fishery and aquaculture losses stand at P35 million,
while for palay the figure is P9 million.
In
Pampanga, at least 14 towns and the capital city remain
flooded, with the provincial government reporting about
P102 million in damages as of Friday.
And
that’s not the end of it. According to the Department of
Agriculture, while the rains were a big relief, they
came too late, since planting now would mean that
farmers would harvest their crops from October to
November, when typhoons are at their strongest.
While
parts of Central Luzon are still submerged in
floodwaters,
Northern Luzon, particularly the Cagayan region, is parched. Reports
indicate that the region, whose four provinces—Isabela,
Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino—account for at least
40 percent of the country’s palay and corn production,
lost about P1 billion worth of agricultural crops during
the three-month dry spell. Thus, cloud-seeding
operations there will continue, particularly in
watershed areas to supply much-needed water for the
dams.
Even if
we can’t stop tropical storms—or their opposite,
extremely dry weather that leads to drought—from
wreaking havoc on agriculture, we can mitigate their
adverse effects through foresight and forward planning.
Proactive rather than reactive measures and serious
implementation of a comprehensive disaster-mitigation
program on the part of the concerned government agencies
are necessary if we want farmers and their families to
withstand periodic crises and go on with their lives
come hell or high water.
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Cracking the whip
Customs
Commissioner Napoleon Morales reported to President
Arroyo last week that Bureau of Customs (BOC) collection
in July reached P21.1 billion, or P1.2 billion higher
than the P19.9-billion target for the month.
That
piece of information should have brought a smile to the
President’s face and a pat on the back for Commissioner
Morales and his staff. But apparently she had other
things on her mind.
At a
“command conference” at the BOC office in Manila, “the
President read them [Customs officials] the riot act,”
according to one account.
The
President issued two significant orders during that
meeting. One, she instructed Morales to crack the whip
on collection officers by strictly enforcing the Lateral
Attrition Act, which imposes heavy penalties on
collection offices that fail to meet their targets.
And two,
she directed Customs officials to fully cooperate with
the Presidential Antismuggling Group amid reports that
some BOC officials were conniving with smugglers.
And, as
if to stress that she meant business, Mrs. Arroyo told a
BOC section chief: “If you cannot do it [improve
collections], then you should not be there,” according
to a senior finance official.
She said
the country’s 15 port districts needed “closer scrutiny”
to make them improve their collection and help the
bureau achieve its P228-billion target for the year. She
ordered the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila
International Container Port (MICP) to make a
“section-by-section” assessment of their performances
“instead of the usual reports of the revenue
collectors,” pointing out that collections from the POM
and MICP make up 10 percent of total BOC revenue.
The
President’s marching orders to the Customs bureau is
understandable, considering that the infrastructure
program she unveiled in her last month’s Sona would
require enormous resources that will come mainly from
taxes and duties.
In
asking Customs officials to shape up or ship out, Mrs.
Arroyo is clearly worried that the government may be
unable to meet the full-year target. Sustained revenue
collection efforts over the next five months are
therefore crucial. The Arroyo administration cannot
afford further revenue shortfalls in the light of its
drive to tame the budget deficit by next year and to
sustain the growth momentum. |
