Aeta communities in the hinterlands of this town received badly-needed help from the provincial government on Sunday, as upland farming villages reeled from heavy rains from the southwest monsoon or habagat.
Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said at least 2,282 families in the ‘Baytan’ (eastern) area of Botolan received food packs airlifted by the Air Force (PAF) from an open field in barangay San Juan here.
The Baytan villages, which are located 25 to 30 kilometers from the town proper and populated by indigenous Aeta residents, are barangays previously scattered in the Aeta ancestral domain but relocated to a cluster after the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991.
These include the 11 communities of Villar, Moraza, Belbel, Burgos, Nacolcol, Palis, Maguisguis, Cabatuan, Owaog Nebloc, Malomboy, and Poonbato.
The resupply was supervised by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Rolex Estella and Botolan MDRRMO head Andy Divino in coordination with Maj. Michael Vincent Perandos, acting deputy group commander of the PAF, and Lt. Col. Mark Anthony Ruelos, commander of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion that is deployed in Zambales.
Ebdane said Sunday’s relief operation provided immediate response to the needs of Baytan residents whose livelihoods were disrupted by heavy rains.
He said the Aeta communities mostly relied on farming, but cannot bring their homegrown produce to lowland markets owing to the swollen Bucao River that drains lahar from Pinatubo.
Ebdane had also ordered on Friday a close watch of lahar channels in the province following an advisory from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) that the province will continue to receive from 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall.
Zambales, which lies on the western flank of Pinatubo, has three major river channels that drain lahar: Bucao River in Botolan town, which includes tributaries like the Maraunot River and the Balin Baquero River; Santo Tomas-Marella River, which drains into the towns of San Marcelino and Castillejos; and Maloma River, a smaller system in San Felipe town that has also become silted with volcanic sediments.
A total of 14 storm-related deaths had been recorded in the province since August, all from drowning.
The latest toll was that of two Aeta residents of barangay Palis in this town-a father and his son-who were swept away by strong river current at the upland village of Malomboy on September 1.