Cash-for-cow program to aid farmers, feed Mayon evacuees
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay — A “cash for cow” scheme will be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help farmers displaced by the eruption of Mayon Volcano earn and, at
the same time, address the nutritional needs of the evacuees.
This was announced yesterday by Secretary Francis N. Tolentino, presidential adviser on political affairs and designated liaison officer of Malacañang in Albay, as Mayon continued to eject almost continuous lava fountains, lava flow, and gas emissions since Monday.
Lava flows
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) characterized Mayon Volcano’s activity in the past 24 hours as “sporadic to near continuous” with glowing lava cascading down the river channels.
Repeated lava fountains from 5:57 a.m. to 1:46 p.m. Monday and near continuous lava fountains from 3:59 p.m. Monday until Tuesday were observed.
These were accompanied by steamladen ash plumes reaching 400 meters high and rumbling sounds heard up to 10 kilometers from the volcano.
Throughout Monday evening, lava flows and consequent incandescent rockfalls were observed in the Miisi and Bonga-Buyuan channels.
Phivolcs said high volumes of incandescent lava flows have advanced to 3.2 kilometers and 4.5 kilometers down the Miisi and Bonga-Buyuan channels, respectively.
Lava flows have also advanced to three kilometers down the Basud channel.
Mayon Volcano’s seismic monitoring network recorded a total of 116 volcanic earthquakes, most of which corresponded to lava fountaining events.
Cash-for-cow
At yesterday’s briefing at Camp General Simeon Ola, Legazpi City, Tolentino instructed the DA to come up with a mechanism on how to implement the “cash-for-cow” scheme.
“Nag-usap na kami kagabi (Monday night) sa Cabinet meeting ni Secretary (Manny) Piñol. Alam na niya ito, bibilhin ng gobyerno yung mga baka ng mga magsasaka nating apektado ng pagalburuto ng bulkan (We talked about this last night at the Cabinet meeting with Secretary Piñol. He knows about this; government will buy the cows of farmers adversely affected by the restive volcano),” he said.
Tolentino said the cows will be butchered and the meat will be given to evacuees as their food and same farmers affected will be given two calves to take home when Mayon stops to erupt.
“Under this program, the government will be paying half of the market value of each cow they own and these cows that would be bought will be used to feed the evacuees,” said Tolentino.
The two calves that will be given to them as the other half of the payment will bought by the government in Masbate, also in the Bicol Region.
Based on the data of the local Department of Agriculture here, there are 681 heads of cattle that were evacuated and half of them are cows.
Tolentino said that based on the reports they have been receiving, the owners are having difficulty feeding their cattles even before the evacuation as they could not go back to the danger zone where they get the food of the cows.
“So before they get sick, we might as well buy them and use them to feed the evacuees,” said Tolentino.
The official said they will be tapping the local evacuees under the cash-forwork program for the slaughtering and cooking of food.
‘Adopt a Municipality’ Following the pronouncement of President Duterte last Jan. 29, designating him as Overall Crisis Manager for Mayon Volcano, Tolentino has also launched the “Adopt a Municipality” program for the nine local government units (LGUs) adversely affected by the recent eruption of Mayon.
The program, according to Tolentino, aims to foster inter-LGU cooperation and encourage “unity of effort” among various government and nongovernment agencies involved in mitigating the impacts of the eruption.
During the coordination meeting held recently, Tolentino reiterated the need to take swift actions and address the needs of displaced families lodged in the evacuation centers. Assembled in the meeting were the local chief executives of the concerned LGUs, Regional Directors of the various departments and other agencies both public and private.
In the “Adopt a Municipality” program, more affluent cities which are capable of providing assistance were asked to “adopt,” so to speak, an affected town in Albay and provide these LGUs with the assistance they need. Metro Manila cities which have pledged support and assistance include Muntinlupa City for the town of Daraga, Caloocan City for Malilipot and Tabaco, Quezon City for Bacacay and Ligao, Pasay City for Santo Domingo, Paranque City for the town of Camalig and Tagaytay City for the town of Guinobatan.