Tingog first nominee Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt Romualdez on Friday renewed her appeal to the Senate to give priority to the passage of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience when sessions resume on May 20.
Romualdez, a congresswoman of the First District of Leyte and chairman of the House committee on accounts, made he appeal following the series of earthquakes that rocked the country.
She hoped Congress would be able to pass the measure before the 17th Congress close in June.
“The earthquakes and aftershocks we have been experiencing recently should prompt us to work for the approval of the Department of Disaster Resilience,” Romualdez said.
“I believe we still have time to work on the approval of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience,” said Romualdez, one of the principal sponsors of the DDR measure that the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading last year.
“I am appealing again to our good senators to consider fast-tracking the passage of the DDR bill as this would help drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, the bureaucratic red tape that has caused many delays in the delivery of immediate assistance needed by disaster and calamity victims.”
Romualdez praised Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for immediately attending to the concerns of the earthquake victims in the badly hit areas of Pampanga and ensuring that everything would return to normal as soon as possible following the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck parts of Luzon on Monday afternoon.
Last Tuesday, a magnitude-6.5 quake rocked San Julian, Eastern Samar, and was also felt in several towns in Eastern Visayas.
The DDR would guaranty a unity of command, a science-based approach and a full-time focus on natural hazards and disasters.
The DDR would also provide leadership in the continuous development of strategic and systematic approaches to disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation, and anticipatory adaptation strategies, measures, techniques and options.