THE arrival of typhoon “Ompong” and the threat it presented to the areas of the country it would hit swept away for a moment other critical issues worrying our people. There had been so many of these issues demanding action from the government – federalism, the Trillanes case, rising prices especially of rice, etc. But as “Ompong” drew near and when it finally hit land, everything else was set aside as we concentrated on the powerful typhoon.
Vegetable prices unexpectedly went down in the days preceding the typhoon’s landing, as farmers quickly harvested their crops before they were destroyed by the strong winds, creating a temporary oversupply. The rice shipments from Vietnam and Thailand had started arriving, so rice prices had also stabilized. Stern warnings were also issued against price manipulators. The high prices, however, have now returned, pushed by increased oil prices and a reduction of the food supply from the north.
This would be a good time for Congress to consider the proposal to create a Department of Disaster Resiliency (DDR). In his State of the Nation Address last July, President Duterte called on Congress to approve the bill creating the new department “with utmost urgency.” The President said the bill “will be a significant step toward attaining safe, adaptive, and disaster-resilient communities by leading efforts to reduce the risk of natural hazards and the effects of climate change.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who filed the Senate bill for the proposed department, said it will focus on three basic areas – disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response, and recovery and building.
In a country regularly beset by typhoons, floods and landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and climate phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña, these disasters are now attended to by scattered government agencies. They get in one another’s way on occasion.
The new department will need considerable funding and will compete with other programs of the government in the allocation of funds in the national budget. The proposed federal system of government with its 18 regional governments on top of the existing national and local governments will need a great deal of funds. The “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program is another administration program needing funds in the trillions of pesos. There is need for our defense forces to acquire more ships and planes and arms. The Department of Budget and Management will have thus its hands full as it considers the priorities of the administration.
Even with the new department, many individual projects will be handled by other departments – construction of evacuation centers by the Department of Public Works and Highways, for example. Actual distribution of emergency relief goods will still be done by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
But the proposals and the rationale for the projects and activities will come from the Department of Disaster Resiliency, which will focus on the one single major problem of disasters that our island country is heir to.