Seized Customs goods to augment typhoon relief

MANILA, Philippines — Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has ordered the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to turn over all seized food items to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for distribution to families affected by Typhoon Ompong.

Dominguez directed Customs chief Isidro Lapeña to ensure that the goods are made available to the DSWD so that they could be prepositioned before the expected heavy rains and strong winds batter provinces in Northern Luzon.

“We have ordered the BOC to release to the DSWD all of their seized food items, including rice, for emergency purposes,” the finance secretary said during the command conference presided over by President Duterte at the operations center of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City last Thursday afternoon.

When the President asked if Lapeña has been duly advised about the plan, Dominguez gave assurance that the BOC has started acting on the directive.

“Oo, yeah. And that’s really our practice as soon as we seized it, we release it to the DSWD,” he said. “So they will be getting not only the rice but if we have seized any smuggled canned goods, we will give it to them.”

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol assured President Duterte that there is enough buffer supply of rice even if the typhoon hits major areas in Northern Luzon.

“We have made projections, Mr. President, based on data gathered from PAGASA. And Typhoon Ompong is expected to affect a total of 1,220,000 hectares of rice and corn alone,” he said.

Piñol told the President that in a worst-case scenario, the storm could damage about 176,000 metric tons of palay, and in a moderate scenario, 74,000 metric tons worth P7.9 billion.

For corn, in a moderate scenario the estimated damage is P2.7 billion, while it would reach P3.1 billion in a worst-case scenario.

“But in spite of this, Mr. President, we are projecting that on a moderate scenario, at the end of the year, even with what will happen, we will still have about 96 days supply of rice,” Piñol said.

“We’re expecting actually, this year to have a record harvest again of 19.4 million metric tons for paddy rice,” he said.

“But if we will be hit hard, that will be reduced by about 600,000 metric tons or (a harvest of) 18.8 million metric tons,” Piñol added.

Duterte teased Piñol about joining presidential adviser Francis Tolentino, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to go to Cagayan and Isabela yesterday to monitor developments during and after the typhoon.

Piñol said he is ready to go to Cagayan but only after the storm has passed, possibly by Monday, to assess the damage to crops and determine the assistance that will be provided to affected families.

Duterte has designated Tolentino, who also supervised disaster response preparations at Mayon Volcano last year, as his conduit for coordination of government actions in the aftermath of Typhoon Ompong.

International aid

International and local charitable organizations are gearing up to send humanitarian assistance to possible victims of Typhoon Ompong in Luzon.

Maria Rosario Felizco, country director of Oxfam, said the organization and its partners are ready to assist with services in water supply, sanitation and hygiene; cash programming; emergency food security and livelihoods; and gender and protection.

“Oxfam and its partners have a strong response capacity in the Philippines with a team of experienced responders on the ground,” she said.

“Oxfam and our local partners are committed to working closely with the government and other humanitarian actors to mitigate the impacts of Typhoon Ompong, and especially to ensure that the rights of women are upheld throughout all stages of any emergency response,” she added.

The organization said it has deployed staff to join the emergency response teams of the Humanitarian Response Consortium and the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center in Tuguegarao. – With Janvic Mateo