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The country can offset the loss with a good harvest over the next three months, he told reporters, allaying fears of shortages of rice and other cereals. "There's still time to run after and make up for the losses because we still have a planting horizon of up to September 15," Yap said. "Everything that is planted on the ground up to September 15 can still be harvested this year. So if you look at the damage, the total impact on national production would be about three percent. We can make up for it." Half the loss was owing to the destruction of fish ponds and fishing vessels, including 30 percent of the commercial fishing fleet of the central province of Iloilo, while the balance was from crops lost, Yap said. He rejected warnings by local officials in Iloilo of an impending rice shortage. The government has committed to import 2.7 million tonnes of rice this year, making the Philippines the world's top rice importer. "I think this calamity very clearly illustrates why we have to have that rice in a very aggressive volume," he said. "Because we have ample stocks, we are not worried," he added.
Civil defence office director Glenn Rabonza said that Fengshen also destroyed 2.2 billion pesos (49 million dollars) in roads and bridges, school buildings, and other infrastructure. Fengshen left 540 dead and 41 missing, while displacing 3.6 million others, he said. The fatalities exclude an estimated 800 people killed when the typhoon sunk the Princess of the Stars ferry off the central Philippines.
str/cgm