The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) here is asking the City Council to amend the ordinance that provides relief, and rehabilitation assistance to victims of disasters in this city.
“It had been more than 10 years after the ordinance was passed, which we hope will be given attention to by the city government and increase the cash assistance provided to victims of disasters and to indigents because prices of commodities have changed 10 years after,” Betty Fangasan, CSWDO officer said. She said they continued to comply with the ordinance but there are just some provisions, which have become outdated, needing amendment. She mentioned of the “Balik Probinsya Program,” where a family wanting to go back to the province is given a cash assistance of P4,000. Explaining that there should be an actual travel expense assessment because transportation, as well as food cost, tremendously increased. The supplemental feeding program and the Cash for Work Program also need to be revised to be able to fully implement the program for the indigents. For the feeding program, a child is only allotted P10 per day or P300 a child per month is being asked to be increased to P20 per day. “The continuing increase in the prices of commodities should be considered by the officials in providing financial aid under ordinance 46-2001. It is about time that this is looked into for the benefit of our constituents,” Fangasan said.
More livestock producers now eligible for disaster assistance
Acting U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Chuck Conner has announced that the USDA would immediately modify an eligibility requirement for the Livestock Compensation Program (LCP). This policy change will make additional livestock eligible for disaster assistance.
Last week Senator John Thune sent a bipartisan letter (attached) signed by 24 U.S. Senators to Acting Secretary Conner requesting that the USDA make changes to LCP eligibility requirements to ensure that livestock producers who suffered legitimate feed losses were not arbitrarily excluded from receiving assistance. A high percentage of South Dakota livestock operations occur in more than one county. USDA initially informed livestock producers who were applying for LCP assistance that livestock were required to be located in a disaster county on the first day of the disaster, in order to prove qualifying feed losses. “The USDA’s original rule meant thata cattle producer who wintered his livestock in Jones County, but owned or leased pasture in Jackson County, was not allowed to use the pasture loss in Jackson County to show a required feed loss, making that producer ineligible for LCP,” said Thune.“This requirement made no sense whatsoever for thousands of livestock producers in South Dakota and most other Western grazing states.”
Acting Secretary Conner told Thune that as a result of his letter, state and county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices had been informed via a teleconference call that they should immediately begin approving losses from the entire livestock operation, even if it covered multiple counties and the eligible livestock were located in only one county on the first day of the disaster period. “The intent of Congress is that livestock producers who have waited more than two years in some cases for livestock assistance not be unduly burdened by eligibility requirements that would result in denying them much-needed assistance,” Thune commented.“I am pleased that USDA made this policy change which was foremost on our list in last week’s letter signed by 23 of my Senate colleagues.” Thune has been working throughout the year to ensure that USDA is correctly administering the $3.2 billion disaster assistance that Congress passed this spring.For instance, this summer Thune introduced a bill (S. 1716) that was passed by both the U.S. Senate and House and signed into law by the President.
This particular bill struck a provision of the disaster statute, which according to USDA’s interpretation would have required all livestock producers to have purchased forage insurance in order to qualify for livestock disaster assistance. Fewer than 15 percent of the nation’s livestock producers had purchased the ineffective Non-insured Assistance Program insurance, which was the only insurance available, nationwide. Thune also introduced legislation (S. 2012) this summer, which would extend crop and livestock disaster assistance to cover losses that occur through the end of calendar year 2007. The current statute covers natural disaster losses only through February 28, 2007.
USDA declares Freeborn County, Minn., as disaster area
Qualified Freeborn County, Minn., farmers who suffered damages or losses because of weather-related conditions earlier this year are now eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA recently designated 20 counties in Minnesota — including Freeborn, Faribault, Mower and Steele counties — as primary natural disaster areas because of the combined effects of heavy rainfall followed by freezing temperatures and multiple periods of thawing and refreezing from Jan. 1 through May 15.
“Our hearts go out to those Minnesota farmers and ranchers affected by recent natural disasters,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation’s economy by sustaining the successes of America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities through these difficult times.” Farmers in Worth and Winnebago counties in Iowa also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. The assistance will come from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency provided eligibility requirements are met. The farmers in eligible counties have eight months from July 10 to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses.
The Farm Service Agency will take into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. Additional programs to assist farmers and ranchers are the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. “I am happy to see the Department of Agriculture stepping up for our communities,” said District 27 Sen. Dan Sparks. “This will be very beneficial to many Minnesota families.” He said as the chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the Senate, he has heard from many farming families that were hit hard by the tough conditions. “It was a long and difficult winter and spring for Minnesota farmers.” Farmers can contact their local USDA service centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures.
Progress slow in cleanup of Gulf Coast oil well disaster
Three years after the infamous BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast, lawmakers are still trying to nail down the effectiveness of past, present and future relief efforts backed by billions of dollars. Restoration efforts will receive anywhere from $5.4 billion to $21 billion from parties responsible for the spill, depending on the outcome of ongoing civil trials in New Orleans. Of that, a law passed in July 2012 dictates that 30 percent of funds will go to broad ecosystem restoration, 65 percent will be divided among the five Gulf Coast states – Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama – and 5 percent will be invested in scientific purposes, such as research, monitoring and technology. “Revenue from the spill penalties gives us an opportunity to restore the environmental health of the Gulf without using federal funds,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said Thursday in a prepared statement before a committee hearing on the Gulf Coast restoration.
The Senate committee heard testimony from a panel of state and federal officials about the progress made in restoration so far, as well as what still needs to be done. Most reported positive steps since 2010 in areas such as tourism, fishing and wildlife preservation, though all admitted there is significantly more work to do and will be for a while. The Restore Act, passed in 2012, ensures that 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties assessed against BP and other responsible parties will go to the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund to help affected states and ecosystems rather than into the federal treasury. Rockefeller, who did not attend the hearing, was critical of efforts so far in a released statement.
He said restoration should be further along than it is, calling efforts from state and local governments “adrift.” “Despite the current availability of billions of dollars in funding for restoration purposes from litigation settlements to date, only a very small amount has been applied on the ground, and there is no overarching plan in place to guide restoration,” he said. Mississippi and Florida have created advisory bodies for the allocation of federal money within their states, hoping to make the process more efficient and less bureaucratic.
Mississippi’s, called GoCoast 2020, already has identified projects that need funding in eight areas. Florida’s, called the Gulf Consortium, is comprised of one county commissioner from each of the state’s 23 Gulf Coast counties. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who led the committee meeting Thursday, repeatedly emphasized that funds needed to be allocated just as the law indicated. “I want you to convey, and I’ll do likewise, that we expect the intent of the law to be carried out,” Nelson told the panel. “Someone can’t go out on their own and start doing whatever they want.” The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. The blast killed 11 people and resulted in more than 206 million gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico for 84 days.
Reference: https://ph.news.yahoo.com/increased-aid-disaster-victims-urged-220055251.html