DOST exec upbeat on disaster management dep’t creation

TACLOBAN CITY, July 24  -- The creation of the Department of Disaster Management, as pushed by President Rodrigo Duterte, will benefit calamity-prone areas in the country such as Eastern Visayas, a key official of the Department of Science Technology (DOST) here said.

DOST Regional Director Edgardo Esperancilla, in an interview Tuesday, said disaster and risk reduction and management (DDRM) efforts are mainly dependent on the local government unit’s calamity funds.

“We need a stronger organization to lead the disaster mitigation, prevention, response, recovery activities. We are happy that no less than the President urged Congress to create the new department,” said Esperancilla, vice chair of the Eastern Visayas Regional DRRM Council.

The new department is expected to consolidate the functions of the Office of the Civil Defense, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, and other agencies.

Duterte on Monday urged Congress to pass a bill creating the Department of Disaster Management in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.

“To help safeguard the present and the future generations, we have to earnestly undertake initiatives to reduce our vulnerabilities to natural hazards, and bolster our resilience to the impact of natural disasters and climate change,” Duterte said.

“As I had stated last year, we must learn from the experiences from the super typhoon Yolanda, and other mega disasters, and from global best practices.”

“We need a truly empowered department characterized by a unity of command, science-based approach and full-time focus on natural hazards and disasters, and the wherewithal to take charge of the disaster risk reduction; preparedness and response; with better recovery and faster rehabilitation,” he added.

Esperancilla is optimistic that the passage of the bill creating the agency will be done soon with the President’s appeal, noting that many legislative measures have been passed in Congress to strengthen the country’s DRRM especially after super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

Late last year, the House committees on government reorganization and on national defense and security have jointly formed a technical working group to study and harmonize eight bills seeking to create an independent agency that will handle the country’s disaster preparedness and emergency management.

The bills include measures on recovery and reconstruction plan led by Phivolcs; drills (earthquake, fire, etc.); fisherfolk as auxiliary response team during disasters; accounting/administration of disaster aid or donations; creating operational assessment of hazard centers; climate change adaptation linkages; providing for emergency warehouses and establishing disaster and emergency centers, among others.

Leyte 1st District Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, one of the proponents of the creation of the new department, said natural and man-made calamities and acts of terrorism have underscored the need for a more advanced, systematic and effective strategy of emergency management.

“A new department of disaster preparedness and emergency management will effectively improve the institutional capacity of the government for disaster risk reduction and management, reduce the vulnerabilities surrounding the affected local population as well as build the resilience of local communities to both natural and man-made disasters and calamities,” Romualdez said. (SQM/PNA)