PIMENTEL SEEKS DECLARATION OF STATE OF CALAMITY IN FLOOD-RAVAGED CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today called for the declaration of a state of calamity in areas in Northern Mindanao that were ravaged by last week's heavy flood to facilitate the release of government assistance to the victims.

Pimentel cited reports that more than 30,000 persons in Cagayan de Oro and its environs alone were displaced and about 300 houses were destroyed by the flashflood last week.

"If she has not yet done so, the President should declare a state of calamity in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental and other parts of Northern Mindanao and move government aid to thousands displaced by the unusual flood," the senator from Mindanao said.

Almost 20 percent of Cagayan de Oro City was submerged in water when the nearby Kagay-an River swelled within minutes.

Local disaster officials blamed logging and river quarrying for the flood. They said the floodwaters came from the mountains of Lanao and Bukidnon.

Pimentel said that since the forests in the mountains have been denuded, there are no more big trees to absorb the water during heavy rains, causing flooding in downstream areas.

He said that Cagayan de Oro City and other low-lying areas become the holding basin of water flowing from the upland areas. On the other hand, the almost unregulated quarrying in the Kagay-an River has caused siltation and destroyed the natural flow of water.

Pimentel expressed alarm the people in many parts of Mindanao are now suffering from the disastrous consequences of the wanton destruction of the forests by illegal loggers that has been going on over the last several decades.