CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Local officials can be administratively liable if found remiss in their duties in mitigating disaster in their localities, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
Rene Burdeos, DILG director for Northern Mindanao, said with government’s unified preparedness program to lessen the impact of a foreseen disaster, there is no reason for communities to suffer huge loss of lives and properties.
The DILG office in Northern Mindanao (Region 10) launched on Monday Operation Listo Tamang Paghahanda, Tamang Aksyon, which included the distribution of a disaster-preparedness manual for local governments, containing a check list of early preparation for mayors to organize their respective responses prior, during and after a calamity.
Northern Mindanao was first to launch Operation Listo in the entire country where agencies, such as the National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, the Office of Civil Defense and the local offices of the DILG were first to be appraised of the substance of the manual and for them to disseminate to their respective Disaster risk reduction management councils the intent of government for a an orderly, timely and effective responses.
The manual assists local governments in the formulation of disaster-preparedness plans, allowing them to know if they are ready, and what they need to do to meet the minimum levels of readiness.
The DILG said the local executives in the region will have their seminar workshop on Operation Listo in the coming weeks.
The Listo Manual has detailed the checklist of early and minimum critical preparations for the local governments, especially those prone to disasters or areas within the typhoon belt. The checklist provided to the local governments from the time a typhoon poses a looming threat in the horizon, to the time it does arrive in a locality.
This ensures that they are able to take the correct steps in responding to the typhoon and the aftermath.
“It’s high time that we take a proactive approach to the challenges we face now that disasters happen practically anywhere in the country. Although we have shown resilience in dealing with and recovering from disasters, we cannot allow to aggravate the sufferings of the victims simply because we have not done mitigating measures,” Burdeos said.
“And if proven that the town’s chief executive has not provided risk-reduction measures and safety to his constituents, he will be administratively charged and held answerable.”
The DILG said the local governments are the frontliners in response to any natural disaster as mandated by law.
They are the ones most familiar with the terrain and resources, the ones that interact directly with the residents. And with every adverse weather phenomenon brings unique effects to a community, which, accounts for differences in planning that every local government encounters.