By JOHNNY DAYANG
THE successive weeks of incessant heavy rain that triggered disastrous floods in many regions and brought misery to thousands of families that remain in congested evacuation centers until now, helps to stress the urgency for the creation of the proposed disaster management agency.
Thankfully, despite certain concerns related to the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), the bill creating the DDR now awaits plenary deliberation by the House when it reconvenes shortly. President Duterte asked legislators to create the DDR immediately in his recent 2018 SoNA.
The House committees on Government Reorganization, and Defense and Security have already approved the proposed measure and the Appropriations committee has assigned it a P21-billion initial budget, double the P10 billion originally suggested by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda in his original House Bill 6075.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promptly mobilized the three committees to work on the measure after assuming the House leadership. National Defense Secretary Secretary Delfin Lorenzana who also chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has pledged strong and full support for the DDR creation.
Lorenzana thanked and praised Arroyo and the three House committee chairmen for their expeditious action on the measure, and Salceda who headed the technical working groups which consolidated 34 other related proposals into his bill.
The DDR creation may indeed be a giant step towards building safer and more adaptive and resilient Filipino communities. And as Salceda, a noted economist, and the House focal person on economic policy concerns under Arroyo’s leadership, noted “With calamity destructions mitigated, the DDR will also help further push the country’s drive towards inclusive growth.”
HB 6075 seeks to amend RA 10121 which created the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) chaired by the Defense Secretary which coordinates various agencies in disaster response.
Both Salceda said Lorenzana agree DDR as conceptualized, fulfills President Duterte’s directive for a “truly empowered department characterized by unity of command, science-based approach and full-time focus on natural hazards and disasters, with a ‘Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Nation’ approach to disaster risk reduction; preparedness and response; with better recovery and faster rehabilitation.”
The reservations voiced by PAGASA and Phivolcs about being placed under the DDR must yield to what is required for the best interests of Filipinos. Phivolcs, PAGASA, DoST and the prospective DDR leadership must be able to resolve their concerns satisfactorily.
