Bicol Saro Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan has proposed a “whole-of-government” in responding to environmental disasters including oil spills.
Yamsuan cited the need to for government to establish interagency protocols that would bring government agencies in close coordination with each other to swiftly mobilize and address the impact of environmental disasters on affected communities and ecosystems.
“The idea of ‘whole-of-government’ approach aims to change the current ‘reactionary’ mindset in government of addressing the widespread and debilitating effects of environmental hazards and catastrophes, such as the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress, which capsized in the waters off Oriental Mindoro last February 28,” Yamsuan said in a statement.
He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and other agencies involved in handling the effects of the oil spill, for instance, to come up with protocols to ensure that incidents of this nature would be better dealt with in the future.
“How many oil spills have happened in the entire Philippines? Up to now we have not yet formed established protocols that we can follow. I’m saying this because we cannot solve the problem in this manner,” he explaned.
In a congressional hearing earlier, Yamsuan, a former assistant secretary of the Interior and Local Government, expressed dismay over what he observed as uncoordinated efforts of various government agencies in their efforts to address the MT Princess oil spill three months after incident, which has affected close to 41,000 families living in shoreline communities and left over 200 people ill.
The issue of food safety, for one, received different responses from the DENR and BFAR, he said.
The Bicol Saro lawmaker suggested that government agencies speak with one voice on the issue and create a task force to better deal with the problem.
“it’s high time for us to change our mindset. We should not be reactionary,” Yamsuan said.
