Agri, infra damage due to ‘Pepito’ reach P121.6-M

Pepito Satellite (PNA Photo)

MANILA – The monetary equivalent of the damage caused by Tropical Storm “Pepito” to agriculture and infrastructure has reached PHP121,697,633, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Thursday.

Mark Cashean Timbal, the NDRRMC spokesperson, said the figures are consolidated from Regions 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon), and 4A (Calabarzon). This can be broken into PHP92,457,633 for agriculture and PHP29,240,000 for infrastructure.

“Infrastructure (damage) are mostly school facilities,” Timbal said.

Meanwhile, families affected by Tropical Storm “Pepito” are now placed at 5,555 families or equivalent to 25,268 persons residing in Regions 2, 3, and 4A.

Also, Timbal said 89 evacuations were conducted in Regions 2, 3, and 4A where a total of 3,639 families or 16,343 individuals took temporary shelter in designated evacuation centers. Meanwhile, another 1,789 families or 8,473 persons stayed outside evacuation centers.

“Those (are) consolidated count(s) for Regions 2, 3, and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon),” Timbal said.

As this developed, the NDRRMC spokesperson warned the public from being duped by unscrupulous individuals posing as employees of the Office of Civil Defense Administrator and making bogus solicitations on behalf of a drug rehabilitation facility in Nueva Ecija.

Timbal issued this warning after the NDRRMC received reports from one of its suppliers who received such solicitation and was requested by the alleged OCD employee to donate via “Palawan Pera Padala”.

“Inuulit po namin na hindi po nagso-solicit ng cash for any facility not related to our DRRM operations ang Tanggapan ng Civil Defense Administrator at hindi rin po parte ng aming patakaran na gumamit ng mga third party money-transfer instruments. Ang aming official na bank account sa Development Bank of the Philippines lamang ang aming iniindorso na pagdepositohan para sa aming mga opisyal na donation drives (We would like to reiterate that the Office of Civil Defense Administrator is not soliciting cash for any facility not related to our DRRM operations and it is not our policy to use third-party money-transfer instruments. We only accept cash donations for our official donation drives which should be deposited in our official bank account at the Development Bank of the Philippines),” he added.