The Negros Occidental provincial government will not declare a state of calamity to purchase an airplane for cloud seeding, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, April 22.
Manuel Lamata, United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) president, on Friday appealed to the Negros Occidental government officials led by Lacson to declare a state of calamity so the province can buy an airplane for cloud seeding to induce rain amid the worsening drought brought on by the El Niño phenomenon.
Lacson said the problem is not the lack of an airplane, it is the experts who are saying we cannot conduct cloud seeding for lack of seedable clouds.
“We can always rent a plane to do that (cloud seeding) like we have done before,” he said.
Lacson said buying an airplane is not necessary because El Niño is not a regular occurrence.
Once an airplane is purchased its maintenance and use will cost a lot of money, he said.
“I could just imagine the requests to use the plane for free”, Lacson also said.
“This idea of buying a plane, a helicopter has always been brought up but I would politely turn it down,” he said.
Lacson reiterated that there is no need for the provincial government to declare a state of calamity now as it still has money available to give out to drought affected farmers.
Once they have started giving out financial assistance we will see if there is still a need for more, Lacson said.
“By declaring a state of calamity it gives you a source of funds to give out, he added.*