CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The farmers’s group Alyansang Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL) has appealed to Pres. Aquino to implement a moratorium on the loans of farmers affected by the recent typhoons Pedring and Quiel.
The AMGL also asked the government to provide farmers P50,000 “cash assistance” each to enable them to rebuild their destroyed homes. AMGL is the biggest umbrella organization of farmers in Central Luzon.
In a statement issued in time for the President’s visit Wednesday to the still flooded areas in Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan, the AMGL also asked the Department of Agriculture (DA) to provide the farmers subsidy equivalent to at least 50 percent of the cost of their agricultural losses from the floods triggered by the recent typhoons “to enable them to rebuild their lives.”
“We emphasize the need for moratorium on loan payments as their losses have made the farmers all the more vulnerable to exploitation by their landlords,” AMGL chairperson Joseph Canlas told Punto.
Citing reports that agricultural damage wrought by Pedring in Central Luzon could even surpass the P10 billion losses during typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Canlas warned that “unless government helps, the farmers would be compelled to pawn or sell their lands just to pay up these loans.’”
Amid criticisms on his “lack of visibility” in flood stricken provinces in Central Luzon since Pedring hit Tuesday last week, the President went to La Paz, in his Tarlac home province to inspect the damaged Rio Chico bridge before distributing relief goods to flooding victims gathered at the La Paz Plazuela evacuation center in the town.
Before noon, he was in San Felipe in San Fernando, Pampanga for a briefing by the Department of Public Works and Highways on river dredging projects under the Mt. Pinatubo rehabilitation project.
He then proceeded to heavily flooded Calumpit, Bulacan to inspect the local disaster assistance command post in Barangay Corazon and to distribute more relief goods at the UPPC chapel evacuation center in Barangay Iba Este.
In the afternoon, the President met with officials of the Regional Development Council at the Hiyas Convention Center in Malolos City, Bulacan where he backed the Pampanga Delta dredging project for the desilting of the Pampanga river towards the Manila Bay.
Earlier, the state-run Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-Ibig Fund declared a three-month moratorium on housing loan payments for its members who were adversely affected by typhoons Pedring” and “Quiel.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, also Pag-Ibig Fund chairman, said he hoped the suspension of loan payments “will help alleviate the difficulties faced by Fund members.”
Canlas noted that “Pedring heavily damaged farmers’ houses and crops that would definitely put the farmers in deep poverty and indebtedness.”
“Houses of our members in Nueva Ecija were swept away and their crops totally destroyed, fisherfolk communities in Hagonoy, Bulacan and nearby towns were also submerged.
They have reported that relief or support from the government has been measly if not inexistent in their areas,” Canlas said.
The AMGL cited reports that so far the government has spent some P25 million for relief goods distributed to typhoon victims in Central Luzon.
“This is only .35 percent of the estimated damage in the region, or about P13.62 per person,” Canlas said.
