14 Cavite areas to bear El Niño’s brunt

IMUS CITY, Cavite – Provincial officials are monitoring the situation in 12 towns and two cities in Cavite that are expected to bear the brunt of El Niño when it peaks in the coming weeks.

Cavite is one of the 27 areas in the country that will experience a dry spell and even drought at the end of the

month.

Gov. Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said under close watch are the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Mendez-Nuñez, Maragondon, Alfonso, General Emilio Aguinaldo, Magallanes, Naic, Ternate, Indang, Carmona and Tanza and the cities of Trece Martires and Tagaytay.

Remulla said the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Environment and Natural Resources and other concerned departments are doing the monitoring.

Local administration officials are keeping tabs of the situation as well, although they said that irrigation and other measures in most of the areas were already in place to cushion El Niño’s impact.

Remulla said he will meet the concerned agencies to determine if there is a need to declare a state of calamity in the province this early.

Cavite, the country's most populous province, has eight districts comprising seven cities and 16 municipalities.

There are more than 65,000 hectares of agricultural lands and 36,000 farmers in the province.

The big planting areas are in the eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth districts. Silang in fifth district, has the biggest tract of agricultural land among the municipalities.

It is the second time that Cavite is experiencing an El Niño episode. The first was in March 2016, reports showed.

Crop damage was minimal compared to other provinces that were severely affected by El Niño that year.