KUALA LUMPUR (UPDATED)— President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Thursday vowed to help farmers affected by super typhoon Egay, which wreaked havoc in northern Luzon this week.

Marcos said he was monitoring the situation and described how the Ilocos region, Cagayan, and Tuguegarao were pounded by the typhoon with strong winds and rains.

Authorities have to ensure roads were passible so relief goods and other services could be delivered immediately, he said.

• Egay dumps more than a month's rain in Ilocos in 2 days: PAGASA

"Sabi ko the moment that the roads are passable, the moment we are able to provide relief but right now it's just rescue... eventually, relief. We will do it immediately," Marcos, who is also the country's concurrent agriculture chief, told reporters here.

Seedlings will be provided to farmers affected by the super typhoon.

"Some areas, kakatanim lang so we have to go back and find what are the areas na nasira ang bagong tanim para makapagbigay tayo ng seedlings, para makabawi naman sila, maibawi pa nila ang season na ito," Marcos told reporters here.

"Nakabantay kami diyan, I guess at this point marami na ring, may nasirang bahay at maraming natangay na gamit," he added.

(Some crops were newly planted, so we have to find out which were destroyed, so we could distribute seedlings in time for the planting season. We are monitoring that. At this point, many houses have been damaged.)

Data from the Department of Agriculture's disaster response and monitoring office showed 2,303 farmers were reeling from Egay's impact on their farms.

As of Thursday, the agency said Egay caused some P53 million in agriculture losses, with rice and corn the most affected commodity.

The DA said its assessment came from its regional offices in Cordillera Administrative Region, Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Caraga..

The department said affected farmers and fishers will be given assistance, such as rice, corn and assorted vegetable seeds; drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry; fingerlings assistance from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

It also said its survival and recovery loan program from the Agricultural Credit Policy Council is available to farmers, and they could borrow up to P25,000 payable in 3 years at 0 interest.

• 5 feared dead, over 328,000 affected by Egay onslaught: NDRRMC

The country's disaster response agency said 328,356 people or 89,639 families were affected by Egay across 11 regions of the country.

Some 26,697 residents were also forced to flee their homes as Egay battered Luzon, with most of them temporarily seeking refuge in 306 evacuation centers.

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