Relief and Rehabilitation of Provinces Damaged by Super-typhoon "Kading"

October 28, 1978

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 759

WHEREAS, there has been extensive damage to crops, life and property caused by super-typhoon "Kading" on October 26;

WHEREAS, the entire Central Luzon region and the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union and Quezon are now agricultural calamity areas; and

WHEREAS, the province of Nueva Ecija and parts of Quezon, furthermore, is a total disaster area with extensive damage to crops, housing, schoolbuilding, power facilities and infrastructure, since bore the full brunt of the eye of super-typhoon Kading;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by the powers vested in me by the Constitution of the Philippines, do hereby declare and direct the following:

1. All of Central Luzon, Pangasinan and La Union are hereby declared agricultural calamity area.

2. The province of Nueva Ecija and Quezon as declared total disaster areas since there was extensive damage not just to crops but also to houses, schoolbuildings, power facilities and infrastructure as well as the loss of lives.

3. I direct the following ministries to immediately set up Relief and Rehabilitation Headquarters on-site-in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija to attend to this disaster area: Human Settlements, Social Services and Development, Agriculture, Public Works, Highways and Education and Culture.

4. I direct the Ministry of Human Settlements and Ecology to coordinate the total relief and rehabilitation in Nueva Ecija and Quezon paying special attention to the need of providing housing and housing materials to the thousands of homeless in these areas.

The National Housing Authority is thereby ordered to mobilize housing materials for Nueva Ecija and Quezon and to rehabilitate housing and shelter in these provinces;

5. I direct the Ministry of Social Services and developments to mount massive relief operations in Nueva Ecija and affected parts of Quezon immediately;

6. I direct the Ministries of Public Works, Transportation and Communication and Education and Culture to immediately repair school buildings in disaster areas of Nueva Ecija and Quezon. aisa dc

7. On Agricultural rehabilitation throughout Central Luzon, Pangasinan and La Union; I direct the following:

a. The Ministry of Agriculture and NGA to suspend any further rice export commitments until a final assessment of our exportable surplus is ascertained.

b. The National Grains Authority:

1) to supply dryers service free from all Nueva Ecija farmers for the next fifteen days; cd i

2) to buy fermented rice at special prices for resale as feeds;

c. To Bureau of Plant Industry to rush adequate seeds to calamity areas and to sell these at subsidized prices to farmers.

d. The National Irrigation Administration, Farms Systems Development Corporation and Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications to pinpoint damaged irrigation facilities and such facilities so that farmers can replant immediately and thus recoup the heavy palay losses of the main crop.

e. The Central Bank and the Philippine National Bank to restructure farmers loans over the next two years and extend new production loans where feasible. cd

f. The National Food and Agriculture Council and the Fertilizer & Pesticide Authority to distribute fertilizer directly to farmers on credit, payable after harvest.

g. The Ministry of Agriculture to plant corn & sorghum in rainfield areas where replanting is impossible.

h. The Bureau of Animal Industry to survey animal losses in Northern and Western Bulacan, Southwestern Pampanga and Southwestern Nueva Ecija. The Bureau of Animal Industry is further instructed to make available work animal in areas where there were losses, at a subsidized price.

8. The Ministry of the Budget to determine the calamity amounts required by the different Ministries and to release the necessary funds from the Presidential Calamity Fund to the Ministries, Agencies and Bureaus involved in the relief and rehabilitation effort.

DONE this 28th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight., in the City of Manila. aisa dc