CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The flood-stricken province of Pampanga was declared to be under a state of calamity by its Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Monday after floods spawned by heavy downpours from two tropical storms wreaked havoc in the province last week.

Pampanga Vice Gov. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao said the declaration will enable the provincial government to release some P37 million to assist the people affected by the flood.

The declaration came following the recommendation of Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio to the provincial board to declare a state of calamity.

Latest Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) reports state tropical storms Chedeng and Dodong caused flooding in 219 barangay in 14 towns and in this capital city, and affected at least 64,474 families or 325,871 persons. The provincial government also reported the estimated damage to agriculture at P105 million.

Hardest hit by floods were the towns of Candaba and Bacolor, where earth dikes were destroyed by swelling river channels. Guiao said the calamity fund would provide for the needs of the people in the affected areas.

The PDCC reported on Wednesday that floods have subsided in many parts of the province, particularly in the towns of Minalin, Sasmuan, Guagua, Bacolor, Masantol, San Simon and San Luis.

Candaba local officials were among the first to declare a state of calamity after rains spawned by Chedeng and Dodong fell on the town, causing massive flooding and damage to crops, infrastructure and other properties.

Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo said damage to rice and vegetable crops planted in some 5,800 hectares have reached more than P65 million; damage to infrastructure, including dikes, farm-to-market roads, irrigation canals and schools may run into millions.

Pelayo said the destroyed Maasim Dike alone might need about P30 million to rebuild.

At the same time, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga assured residents of Bacolor that he would be seeking funding for the repair and strengthening of dikes shielding the town from flashfloods from nearby river channels.

Gonzales was referring particularly to the Gugu dike, in which a gaping, 600-meter breach was carved by flashfloods rushing down the Gugu Creek last week, severely affecting barangay Tinajero, Talba, Cabetican and San Vicente.

Gonzales also asked the Department of Public Works and Highways to immediately undertake flood-mitigating measures to prevent further damage and threat to lives and properties.

Gonzales also suggested the concreting of the Gugu Dike to prevent a recurrence of the flooding of the nearby barangays, some residents of which reportedly had to be airlifted owing to severe flooding at the height of the rains last week.

Following the declaration of a state of calamity, and despite the declaration of an end of the dry spell at least in Central Luzon by the weather bureau, disaster- mitigation authorities in the province brace for more rains as tropical storm Egay further intensified as it continued to move toward the country.

Weathermen also warned that the continuing La Niña phenomenon will bring in typhoons and floods up to the last quarter of the year.

AS another typhoon, the third to hit the country in a span of one week, moves in, heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon flooded parts of Metro Manila, causing heavy traffic on major thoroughfares, including Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), the metropolis’s main thoroughfare.

THE Armed Forces denied on Wednesday reports that US troops have been directly involved in combat operations against terrorists and bandits in the province of Sulu.

THE Supreme Court (SC) yesterday affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s grant of bail to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a coaccused in the plunder case filed against his father, former-President Joseph Estrada before the antigraft court’s First Division.

NATIONAL Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales agrees with the observation that the antiterrorism law, more commonly known as the Human Security Act (HSA), is unenforceable.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The flood-stricken province of Pampanga was declared to be under a state of calamity by its Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Monday after floods spawned by heavy downpours from two tropical storms wreaked havoc in the province last week.

SAYING that a piece of legislation could not, on its own, lower the prices of medicine, a militant legislator on Wednesday proposed a five-point legislative agenda that included the breaking up of the monopoly of large pharmaceutical companies by amending the Intellectual Property Code.

A PUZZLED Sen. Loren Legarda asked the Arroyo administration on Wednesday to clarify conflicting claims on the perceived economic gains being touted by its officials that the country would get from ratifying the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).