RECENT separate reports from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have all ranked the Philippines high among countries deemed vulnerable to climate change and the violent weather aberrations it spawns.
This gives Filipinos a chilling fear, given the widespread disasters caused by previous super-typhoons Umpong and Yolanda, and their current counterparts, as well as the recent strong earthquakes that devastated several Mindanao areas.
Given the magnitude of devastation natural disasters bring about, Senate President Tito Sotto’s assurance that they will shortly enact the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) bill now pending in their chamber sounds encouraging.
Significantly, as noted by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, House Ways and Means Committee chair and principal author of the DDR measure, all previous disasters including the recent Mindanao tremors, have highlighted the obvious unpreparedness among both our state agencies with their “dysfunctional and discoordinated responses,” and the affected residents themselves.
It has thus become even more compelling for the government to create the DDR as soon as possible as the principal state agency that will focus on disaster risk assessment and warnings; disaster preparedness, reduction and mitigation; and disaster response including relief, recovery and rehabilitation initiatives.
As envisioned by President Duterte himself who has endorsed the agency’s creation in his previous SONAs, the DDR must be guaranteed “unity of command’ and must employ an integrated “Whole-of-Government, Whole-of-Nation. Whole of Society” and “science-based” approaches to disasters.
As such, therefore, and for reasons of effectiveness and efficiency, the DDR needs to integrate under one roof various government units concerned with disasters, including the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) as its core organization; the Climate Change Commission Office; the Geo-Hazard Assessment, Engineering, and Geology units of DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau; the DOH’s Health Emergency Management Bureau; DSWD’s Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau; and DILG’s Bureau of Fire Protection.
Two other agencies, currently under the Department Science and Technology (DOST) – the Philippine Institute of Volcanology (Phivolcs) and the Philippine Atmospherical Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA), need to be positioned under the DDR as attached agencies.
There is solid logic behind this proposed integrated DDR set-up. How come, therefore, that some officials are reportedly opposed to repositioning Phivolcs and PAGASA under the DDR to which their mandated functions are crucial? They seem more keen on promoting disasters, instead of disaster resilience.
