Heavy rains in the Agusan River Basin Area which starts from the Davao Provinces and ends up in Butuan City have caused the mighty Agusan River and its tributaries to overflow inundating an estimated 50,000 hectares in Agusan del Sur.
At least nine of the 14 towns of Agusan del Sur are affected by the flooding and the damage to crops and properties could run up to hundreds of millions of pesos.
Yesterday, I visited Agusan del Sur and after meeting with local officials in Bunawan led by Vice Governor Sammy Tortor and at four municipal mayors, I personally inspected the flooded areas.
A small speedboat brought me and Bunawan Mayor Edwin Elorde to several areas which were totally marooned by the floodwaters reaching as deep as 15 feet.
Mayor Elorde, who along with his brother Gilbert, now a board member, gained national prominence when the biggest crocodile, “Lolong,” was caught in their town, said the floods which hit Agusan del Sur now are “scary.”
“We have not had these floods for over two years now,” he told me as we toured the flooded areas accompanied by three other small boats which carried other officials of the DA including Caraga Director Albert Ocampo.
During the meeting I had with the local officials six mayors and two vice mayors, they all agreed that the unregulated mining operations and the unabated logging activities in the upstreams of the Agusan River Basin have caused the flash floods.
They said that in the past, floods would also come after days of rain but flooding would occur only after about two weeks after the rains because there were trees which held the water.
“Today, the flood waters would rush down very fast,” Vice Gov. Tortor, who is the Acting Governor, informed me.
Leaders openly asked whether the flooding was Nature’s way of exacting payment for the abuses made by illegal miners and loggers who devastated the watersheds and forest areas.
In the village of Nueva Era, an Iglesia ni Cristo enclave where President Rody Duterte got 100% of the votes in the last elections, residents were jubilant that top officials of the administration reached them in the midst of the huge floods.
The leader of the community told me that they were about to sow their rice seeds when the floods came and they were among the lucky ones who would not be severely affected by the disaster.
While the DA has committed to support the seeds and fertiliser requirements of the farmers affected by the floods, the biggest problem confronting the farming families now would be where to get their subsistence until the next harvest season.
The vegetation in the flooded areas were also affected prompting farmers to feed their carabaos with banana stalks.
I have promised the farmers that I would come back after I shall have consulted the other top officials of the DA on how to extend emergency loans to farmers whose crops were destroyed by the floods.
I also asked the local officials to immediately convene the Agusan River Basin Development Council to address the continuous flooding in the area.
(Photos by Al Jacalan and John Pagaduan, Dept. of Agriculture.)
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