ILOILO CITY—Farmers in Iloilo are starting to feel the brunt of the El Niño and claims for crop insurance have started to mount at the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC).
For the period January 1 to February 9, the PCIC has already approved indemnity payment for 1,710 claims in the amount of P9.2 million.
The figure is 58 percent higher than the average monthly claim of P3.8 million in Iloilo in 2015, where the total indemnity release reached P46.4 million.
Charlito Brilleta, PCIC regional manager in Western Visayas, said his office is still processing 9,228 claims filed in December 2015 and January 2016.
“We are still verifying these claims which may cost P45.217 million,” he told the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) during its meeting on Tuesday.
As this developed, the PDRRMC approved the P33.7-million budget prepared by the Iloilo El Niño Task Force. It will then be submitted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for approval.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. created the task force last year under Executive Order 167 to lead various efforts to mitigate the impacts of the dry spell on agriculture, the province’s populace and development endeavors as a whole.
The budget will be used for the following sectors: water (P12 million); agriculture (P10 million); forest and biodiversity (P3 million), information and education campaign (P3 million); health (P2.5 million); veterinary (P2 million); and social capital (P1.2 million).
Brilleta said the claims they received for the first month of 2016 involved damages due to the drought.
In 2015 most of the claims involved damages brought about by pests and plant diseases, except in the fourth quarter where the drought was already felt.
The P9.2-million indemnity payment covered 1,518 hectares of rice lands, with Passi City registering the most claims involving 424 farmers.