Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Wednesday sought the help of fiberglass manufacturers in the country to help thousands of fisherfolk whose boats have been destroyed by Typhoon Odette.
“I am appealing to the leaders of fiberglass manufacturing industry in our country to help our fishermen recover from their losses due to Typhoon Odette,” Pangilinan said.
According to Pangilinan, these fishermen need bancas that were either submerged or destroyed by Typhoon Odette.
“It is a huge help to fishermen if they can get new bancas immediately,” he said.
He noted that millions of pesos worth of motorized bancas, pump boats, and fishing gear had been wiped out in the fury of Odette.
“We need to replace soonest the fishing boats of affected fisherfolk in order to restore their sources livelihood,” Pangilinan said.
“Fiberglass is a great replacement to wooden bancas. Trees must be cut to make new wooden boats. Cutting trees will further deplete our forest cover. And this is not environmental-friendly,” Pangilinan said.
“Cutting thousands of trees to make wooden bancas would lead to soil erosion, which would in turn cause flooding and a host of environmental challenges” Pangilinan said.
On Dec. 29, Pangilinan flew to Bohol to distribute relief package to displace residents and to assess the extent of damage to the province.
Pangilinan went to Leyte and Surigao for relief missions on Dec. 21. He was joined by his wife Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan in Cebu to distribute relief packs on Dec. 23.
The Department of Agriculture has estimated damage to agricultural and fisheries sector due to Typhoon Odette to be at least P6 billion, according to the initial assessment reports. DA said it is still validating the figures and reports.
Typhoon Odette left in its path destructions in the regions of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro Occidental and Oriental, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan), Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Central Mindanao, and the Caraga Administrative Region.
DA has also estimated the number of affected farmers and fisherfolk at 68,991, with the volume of production losses pegged at 118,426 metric tons in 288,677 hectares of agricultural areas.
Affected commodities include rice, corn, high value crops, coconut, livestock, and fisheries. Agricultural infrastructures, machineries, and equipment have also been damaged.