THE state-run Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) paid an initial P24 million as crop insurance to more than 2,700 farmers based in Luzon where Typhoons Pedring and Quiel wreaked the most havoc.

PCIC, a government-owned and -controlled corporation under the Department of Agriculture (DA), announced that the money was distributed to farmers in Isabela, Bulacan and Pampanga—three provinces heavily battered by Typhoons Pedring and Quiel.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala said he hopes that insured farmers will be able to recover their losses and replant again.

The PCIC noted that most of the beneficiaries are members of organized farmers’ cooperatives and groups including irrigators’ associations.

The initial batch of recipients, the agency said, were mostly from Cauayan, Isabela, where 1,470 farmers were given a total indemnity of P14.7 million.

In San Luis, Pampanga, 901 farmers got P5 million while 358 farmers from Malolos, Bulacan, received P4.3 million in crop-insurance payments.

The PCIC noted that the initial P24 million crop insurance is part of the P334-million indemnity that the agency will give to farmers in Luzon who insured their rice, corn and fish stocks during the current main season.

Earlier, PCIC president Jovy Bernabe said the P334 million is the biggest payout the agency has made to date.

Bernabe said the agency’s assessment showed that about P333.93 million worth of crops, mostly palay, were insured in 30 provinces covering the entire Luzon. The affected farmers who were able to insure their crops totaled 26,794, with a combined farm area of 40,138 hectares.

Bernabe said the magnitude of the indemnity owes not only to the severity of the twin calamities, but also to the expansion of PCIC’s insurance coverage among farmers during the last 12 months.

Alcala and Bernabe assured insured farmers that the government will fast-track the release of payments to enable them to replant again.