Senatorial aspirant and Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday reiterated his call for the establishment of a Department of Disaster Resilience, saying having an agency in charge of recovery from natural calamities will be key in restoring economic activity in areas frequently ravaged by disasters.
“We shouldn’t get used to just responding to disasters. We should instead be proactive. We really need a Department of Disaster Resilience to take charge of rehabilitation,” Cayetano said in a statement.
The lawmaker earlier sent financial aid to 20 small business owners as well as food packs to a number of families in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental who were hit hard by typhoon Odette last month.
Through his Sari-saring Pag-asa program, Cayetano also gave cash aid to around 100 microentrepreneurs in Taysan, Batangas.
The establishment of an executive department dedicated to disaster response and rehabilitation has been a long-standing legislative advocacy of Cayetano.
As a Senator in 2013, he filed a bill seeking to form the Emergency Response Department in the aftermath of super typhoon Yolanda.
In September 2020, the House of Representatives under Cayetano’s leadership passed House Bill 5989 which proposes the establishment of the Department of Disaster Resilience to centralize and oversee the government’s disaster response system.
A similar measure is still pending in the Senate.