President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday he wants the government’s national disaster response to operate under his office.
Mr. Marcos made this remark during his visit to Tacloban City for the 9th anniversary of Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” where he stressed the need to bolster disaster response initiatives and rehabilitation projects.
“We will put the national disaster response team under the Office of the President. And I think that we are headed in that direction because of the weather that we are suffering from now from the effects of climate change,” Mr. Marcos said.
“I think that overall, we can say that the disaster response has been a good one. However, I believe that there are ways that we can make it even more streamlined,” the President said.
“As typhoons become much stronger and calamities more destructive, pursuing much-needed reforms to make the country more proactive and responsive to disasters becomes more imperative,” he said.
The chief executive assured the people of Tacloban that the government would continue to prioritize its recovery, especially the resettlement of the displaced families and the provision of support to affected businesses.
Since 2013, the government has been implementing the Yolanda Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan and providing affected families with food assistance, cash-for-work programs, and Emergency Shelter Assistance.
Super Typhoon Yolanda, which hit the country on Nov. 8, 2013, claimed more than 6,300 lives, injured more than 30,000 people, and affected more than 3 million families.
Considered one of the most powerful and strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, it destroyed more than 1.1 million homes and properties and registered P90 billion in damage.
The President earlier led the distribution of various government assistance to families affected by Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’ in Antique, pledging to rehabilitate the province’s damaged infrastructure for immediate normalization.
The chief executive also held a situation briefing with selected regional line agency directors and local chief executives of Antique to assess the extent of damages caused by Paeng and address pressing concerns in the Western Visayas region.
Speaker Martin G. Romualdez supported the move to transfer the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) from the Department of National Defense-Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to the Office of the President (OP).
Romualdez said the proposed transfer gives the President a direct hand in managing government responses to natural calamities and in mitigating the impact of climate change-related issues and problems.
“It simplifies the flow of responsibility and directives to the more than 30 departments, agencies and organizations sitting in the council,” Romualdez said.
In supporting the President’s position on the transfer of the NDRRMC to OP, Romualdez noted that climate change-related issues and problems like extreme weather conditions are worsening.
“Like many nations, we have no choice but to prepare for these eventualities. Our situation is even peculiar, because we are visited by an average of 20 tropical storms every year. We have to streamline our disaster responses and the management of risks to natural calamities,” he said.
He said the country needs to become “climate change resilient.”
In the briefing in Antique, the President said people who refuse to evacuate during calamities are not stubborn, saying he understands their feelings and emotions.
“They are not hardheaded. That’s what’s happening everywhere. Everywhere you go, that problem of evacuation is there. They do not want to leave their homes. You cannot blame them. Those who were going after their cattle cannot be blamed, because those are pricey. They do not want to leave their homes,” he said.
“Maybe even if the water does not reach their homes, their belongings could be gone when they return. Their fear is very natural. Everywhere it is the same. You have to find a way to convince them to bring them to an evacuation center,” the President said.
The President reiterated the importance of preemptive evacuations in protecting the health and safety of people living in vulnerable communities.
The President made the remarks after Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao said some people are simply stubborn and refuse to leave their homes despite the dangers of disasters.