“We need it, like, yesterday.”
The advent of killer tropical cyclones that came one after another, “Kristine” being the latest one, together with the many landslides and floods often burying villages and killing hundreds of people in their path, should convince President Marcos Jr. on the need to prioritize a long-pending bill at the Senate. This is the bill that creates the Department of Disaster and Resilience.
I can no longer count the billions of pesos that the government has lost in damaged infrastructure and agriculture. Yes, I have been writing on the need for a DDR, so much so that I keep on repeating myself, my gulay.
In the aftermath of the killer typhoons comes the listing of calamity areas, which is aimed as a warning to people. This is also to justify the need to release calamity funds for rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
Yes, we have the NDRRMC ( National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council), an ad hoc body under the Office of Civil Defense of the Department of National Defense, which has since devolved into provincial and regional offices. But, as I said, the NDRRMC is only an ad hoc body called upon when there is a calamity. Knowing that the Philippines is prone to calamities, not only to cyclones and typhoons, floods and landslides, the country is also prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, being in the Ring of Fire.
These are the reasons why BBM should consider the need to prioritize a permanent department to handle all these natural disasters, a permanent body to study where disasters and calamities often occur. There is also the need for a DDR to study why floods and landslides occur. My gulay, floods now occur in areas where they never happened before. This is because not all communities have flood control projects. Disasters and calamities can happen anywhere. Funds are wasted because the government is not prepared for them, but also because the government lacks early warning devices to prevent loss of lives.
There is also the need for the 3 Rs, “ rescue, relief and rehabilitation”. Often, the government needs the Philippine Coast Guard (PSG) to help in rescue operations. Then, when there is need for relief, sadly the government always has to depend on the private sector, and the usual foreign relief. My gulay, why must relief be dependent on the private sector and foreign aid when a DDR can provide a relief with the required appropriations?
Then comes rehabilitation. Often, Santa Banana, rescue and relief get hampered because of destroyed infrastructure. This could be another function of the DDR. A DDR will be a permanent department, always ready in the event of calamities and disasters.
The DDR bill was already enacted by the House of Representatives as early as the last Congress, but it is stymied at the Senate, because a DDR is not on its list of priorities. It seems that only Senator Bong Go is pushing for it because he knows the need for it, having gone to rural areas in need of relief when calamities and disasters hit them. I commend Senator Bong Go for this.
On the part of President Marcos Jr., I urge him to prioritize the enactment of a DDR knowing full well that the country is calamity and disaster prone. As I write this column, I believe the country will gain through the prioritization of the Senate of the bill on the creation of a DDR. I cannot understand why the Senate has not prioritized a DDR when it knows that we are always prone to calamities and disasters. I beg, I implore the Senate to enact the DDR if only to save more lives, and especially to save the government billions of pesos lost whenever there is a calamity or disaster.
The people need a DDR, especially during the typhoon season. And typhoons, floods, landslides will happen even more during the La Nina season. I really hope and pray that this is my last column on the need to prioritize a DDR.
