The government is reactivating the El Niño Task Force tasked to enhance coordination in agencies and lessen the impact of the weather pattern in light of forecasts that reduced rainfall may persist until the end of the month.
In a memorandum released by Malacañang Friday, the Palace ordered the reactivation and reconstitution of the Presidential Task Force to mitigate the effects of El Niño on food and water security, energy, health, and safety.
The task force, headed by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, will also be asked to revise and update the existing Roadmap for Addressing the Impacts of El Niño which has been in place since 2015.
The task force was first engaged in 2015 when the Philippines was reeling from one of the strongest El Niño occurrences on record, when the agriculture sector lost P15.2 billion worth of crops and livestock.
Under the memorandum, each cluster will be headed by a Cabinet secretary. Agriculture Secretary William Dar will head the food security cluster, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on water security, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on energy security, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on health, and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on safety.
The other members of the task force are the Department of Science and Technology, Department of National Defense, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, and Presidential Communications Operations Office, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Food Authority, National Irrigation Authority, and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration were also part of the task force, according to the memorandum.
Current climate models of the DOST-PAGASA suggest that there is 75 percent probability that the El Niño phenomenon will persist from June until August.