ISABELA CITY, Basilan, Jan 30 (PIA) – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Basilan has declared the province under State of Calamity during their special session on January 23, 2023 due to infestation to rubber trees.

Through the recommendation of the Basilan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC), the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved Resolution No. 2023-14 series 2023 or “A resolution declaring a State of Calamity in the Province of Basilan as a result of the infestation on leaf fall disease ‘Pestalotiopsis”.

In a study conducted by the Philippine Rubber Research Institute (PRRI) spearheaded by the Officer-in-Charge Director Girlie Saludo, representative of the University of Southern Mindanao and its consortium last December 12-17, 2022, revealed that at least 800 hectares of rubber trees in Basilan turned out to be infected with Pestalotiopsis, a leaf fall disease which affects rubber plantations. The fungus causing the diseases attacks rubber plants at all stages and infects all rubber clones.

Recent inspection reports yielded one thousand five hundred twenty (1,520) hectares of rubber trees covering the cities of Isabela and Lamitan and municipalities of Lantawan, Maluso, Tuburan, Ungkaya Pukan, Tipo-tipo, Sumisip, Akbar and Hadji Mohammad Ajul and at least 16,000 farmers already affected by the infestation.

During an interview with the local media in Basilan, Governor Jim Salliman said that experts theorized that the disease may have spread to the province from nearby Sabah, a territory being disputed by the Philippines and Malaysia.

Further, he said that he had already directed local agriculturists to see possibilities for the cure of the disease.

Other local officials have also seen the need to put protocols in the province rubber tree plantations to prevent further spread of the disease.

Basilan Province is one of the top rubber-producing provinces in the country. Majority of its residents rely on rubber as their main source of livelihood. (RVC/EDT/NDR-PIA Basilan)