The government will soon have an independent, separate, and well-structured Department of Disaster Resilience with its own mandate and authority to develop and manage a broad climate-disaster program of governance, as the country confronts more and more calamities of greater frequency and magnitude.
President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the proposed creation of the agency during the regular Cabinet meeting earlier this week, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said.
In his 2017 State of the Nation Address, the President urged lawmakers to craft a law that will establish an agency that will help Filipinos adapt better to extreme weather conditions.
The proposed DDR creation is contained in House Bill 6075 filed by Salceda in Congress last year.
A noted economist and multi-awarded official in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, the solon was recently designated by the House to head the technical working group tasked to consolidate his bill with 43 other related disaster response proposals and finalize the draft measure for plenary consideration by the chamber.
Salceda said a strong disaster agency is “essential to a sensible economic blueprint and since disastrous typhoons have been noted to be getting stronger and broader in impact in recent years, the creation of the DDR is an urgent agenda.”
With an initial P10-billion budget, the DRR will be “tasked to carry out a continuous, consistent and fortified calamity defense program and ensure the country’s sustainable development and inclusive growth.”
It will be accountable and responsible for overseeing, coordinating, and implementing comprehensive disaster risk and vulnerability reduction and management programs and redirecting policy drifts among other agencies handling such tasks.
A Climate Change Adaptation pioneer in the country, Salceda was former co-chair of the Green Climate Fund of United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.
He was named the United Nation’s Senior Global Champion for CCA and Disaster Risk Reduction when he was Albay governor for three consecutive terms until 2016. His “Zero Casualty goal” strategy has been proven effective and has since been a household byword in the Bicol region.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for recognizing our Albayano people’s lifetime passion for zero casualty goal during disasters, as well as our aspirations for human dignity, culture of resiliency and sustainable development,” he said, following Malacañang’s approval of the DDR idea.
The Philippine situation, Salceda said, is critical since the country ranks third among 171 countries considered as “most exposed and vulnerable to natural calamities,” and listed 13th in the Climate Change Vulnerability Index.
Almost 74% of its population and 80% of its land area have been identified as vulnerable to disasters with Manila marked as “in extreme risk,” Salceda noted.
The country’s current disaster risk reduction efforts are spearheaded by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, an agency established in 2010 under RA 10121, which HB 6075 seeks to amend.
Doubts have been raised about the efficiency of NDRRMC’s organizational structure in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, which claimed thousands of lives and destroyed billions of pesos worth of assets.
To effectively confront disasters, Salceda said the country needs “strategic and systematic approaches to disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and efficient programs on rehabilitation and recovery.”
DDR will take over from DRRMC and will take under its wing the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) under the Department of Science and Technology; the DENR’s Geoscience Bureau, and DILG’s Bureau of Fire Protection.
The DRR idea, he said, is akin to US Department of Homeland Security that has under its operational control major federal agencies to effectively confront security issues and threats in many areas.
HB 6075 is a result of “action research, sharing of experiences and dynamic discussions among various stakeholders from national and local government agencies, organizations and communities and is a product of comparable international experiences,” he added.
DRR will be separate from the Office of Civil Defense, which will continue to perform its original mandate and duty to administer a comprehensive national civil defense and civil assistance program, training of community volunteers for civil defense and assistance, and other mechanisms for community preparedness.