TYPHOON Pedring killed 52 people and caused P6.6 billion in damages, mostly to agricultural crops, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) reported to President Aquino on Sunday.

The report raised the possibility the numbers could go higher.

At the NDRRMC meeting at Camp Aguinaldo, President Aquino ordered authorities to study if it was possible to provide “subsistence” assistance to small fishermen to prevent them from going out to sea during typhoons. He also ordered to study the possible “forcible evacuation” of those who refuse to leave their homes even when the situation already endangers their safety.

NDRRMC Executive Director Benjamin Ramos said Pedring’s death count was 52 “and still counting,” 39 more missing and 63 injured.

The total damage: P5.6 billion in agriculture and P1.041 billion in infrastructure.

The typhoon, he said, affected 511,795 families, or over 2.4 million people in  Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Bicol, and the Cordillera Administrative Region and the National Capital Region.

The NDRRMC also said besides towns in Bulacan and Pampanga that are still suffering from the floods generated by Typhoon Pedring last week, several areas in Central and Northern Luzon were also inundated by Typhoon Quiel, which weather forecasters said, should have been out of the country’s area of responsibility by Sunday afternoon. Some towns in Bulacan and Pampanga have already declared a state of calamity; others are expected to declare the same in the next few hours.

The NDRRMC said floods brought about by Quiel initially affected 849 families, or 3,468 people in 27 barangays in six towns and three cities in La Union and Pangasinan. Roads, highways and bridges, including those leading to Caranglan in Nueva Vizcaya; the whole of Nueva Ecija; Paniqui, Camiling, Moncada and San Clemente in Tarlac; and several towns in Pangasinan have remained isolated.

Ramos said the lone Quiel fatality was Marcos Jammas, 35, of Cotcot, Buguias, Benguet, while Melody Gomez, 22, of Mabaay, Bontoc, Mountain Province, was injured. They were onboard a passenger van bound for Bontoc from Buguias, Mountain Province, on Saturday when it was hit by a rockslide along the Halsema Highway.

During the two-hour meeting, the President ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development to study the possibility of giving financial assistance to marginal fishermen who have been known to ignore warnings from authorities against going out to sea during typhoons.

“If they are not allowed to venture out, can we give them some subsistence for the days that are extremely hazardous? Study the mechanism by which we can determine who is in need, and the funds available for that purpose so that they won’t have to resort to desperate measures,” he told Social Secretary Corazon Soliman.

He said keeping these fishermen from venturing out to sea would not only protect them from danger, but also those who would be sent out to rescue them.

On the issue of those who have chosen to remain on the roofs of their houses rather than be evacuated, National Police Director General Nicanor Bartolome told the President the people can be “bodily” removed and brought to safer ground to protect them.

To this, the President said, “On the issue of their safety, there is a law that empowers [us], and conversely if we cannot effect the rescue, there can be charges leveled against us.”

Ramos said they could also adopt the scheme of Mayor Jerry Pelayo of Candaba of not giving food to those who refuse to go to the evacuation centers.

In Bulacan and Pampanga, Ramos said rescue and relief operations were still being conducted by soldiers and policemen as well as members of the Coast Guard and government and private search and rescue groups, including members of the Philippine Dragon Boat Team, headed by Army Maj. Harold Cabunoc. Helicopters from the Air Force and Coast Guard were also helping deliver food supplies and evacuate trapped residents.

Mayor James de Jesus of the severely flood-stricken Calumpit said the water in his town, had already receded to knee-deep, except in four barangays, including Pagdukot and Sta Lucia, which still has 80 isolated families.

De Jesus asked Ramos, who visited the municipality on Sunday, to at least drop food provisions for the four barangays.

Ramos said the same operations were being undertaken in Pampanga, particularly in the towns of Apalit, Lubao, Minalin, Sasmuan and Candaba.

Workers from the Department of Public Works and Highways, meanwhile, were rushing the clearing operations of Maharlika Highway, which had been cut by landslides, in order to allow traffic to Nueva Vizcaya and Cagayan.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala also said the Department of Agriculture will give an official assessment of the extent of damage to crops later on, but noted that the public have “nothing to worry about” in terms of food supply. He said there is enough food in the Visayas and Mindanao to ease any possible shortage of food supply in Luzon.

Agencies from international communities based in the country have also pledged help to the government to fast-track the delivery of services to the typhoon victims.

Mr. Aquino, who presided over the meeting amid criticisms he has not been hands-on in dealing with disaster-related problems, is preparing to visit disaster areas in Bulacan.

In an interview with the state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte defended Mr. Aquino, saying he would rather work behind the scenes by being in constant contact with concerned government officials and agencies to ensure that everything is being done to help typhoon victims.

“The President has been monitoring the situation nonstop to ensure that we are giving addressing the people’s needs,” Valte said.

Asked about the overpricing of basic goods in some disaster areas, Valte said the Department of Trade and Industry has deployed more monitoring teams to those areas to prevent any abuse.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ralph Recto, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, recommended that Malacañang immediately release unspent public funds in this year’s budget for the rehabilitation of areas affected by Pedring and other typhoons projected to hit the country this year.

Recto said  “the entire balance of the 2011 national budget is a virtual ‘calamity fund’ waiting to be tapped considering that infrastructure works in the coming months would surely be centered on restoring typhoon-ravaged provinces.”

“The government could use the devastations wrought by Typhoon Pedring and the ensuing tropical storms as catalyst to correct its under spending,” he said. “Not only croplands and properties were toppled by Typhoon Pedring but also the government’s alibi to slow down spending.”

He said the government has barely touched its infrastructure outlays for the year, disbursing only P64.5 billion from January to July, which is 141 percent lower or P91.5 billion short of the P156 billion actually spent in the same seven-month period last year.

Recto noted that weather authorities have predicted that at least five to six more typhoons may hit the country before the close of the year.

(With B. Fernandez and Z. Solmerin)