By Johnny C. Nuñez / Philippines News Agency
THE proposal of PDP-Laban Rep. Joey S. Salceda of Albay for the creation of an independent national authority to handle and strengthen the country’s disaster risk-reduction management (DRRM) system has gained support among community-based and globally known DRR advocates and practitioners.
Salceda’s proposal, embodied in House Bill (HB) 1648, seeks to create the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) that will radicalize the country’s disaster response and management system and make it “the world’s best approach to DRR.”
HB 1648 is titled “An act further strengthening the Philippines disaster reduction and management system by institutionalizing the framework and plan and establishing the NDRRMA, an independent body under the Office of the President dedicated to predisaster-risk reduction and postdisaster reconstruction.”
It amends Republic Act (RA) 10121, the DRR law, and further strengthen calamity response by “institutionalizing the framework and plan.”
Salceda said HB 1648 is a result of “action research, sharing of experiences and dynamic discussions among various stakeholders from national and local government agencies, organizations and communities.” He describes the bill as a “product of comparable international experiences” and is timed with the review of the performance and organizational structure of RA 10121 enacted in 2010.
The NDRRMA will monitor and ensure implementation of DRRM objectives in all localities in the country and perform oversight functions, as well. The agency, Salceda added, will be equipped with the necessary competency and resources to engage new actors, particularly in the field of risk transfer and insurance, and built with the necessary structure to manage broader governance arrangements and oversee DRRM efforts toward Sustainable Development Goals.
Among those that have vowed to support HB 1648 is the Disaster Risk Reduction Network Philippines (DRRNetPhils), a broad group of known DRR practitioners and advocates who recently held a consultation meeting with Salceda at his office in Congress on September 7.
DRRNetPhils is a national coalition of civil-society organizations, people’s organizations and practitioners and advocates of community-based disaster risk reduction and management (CBDRRM), which include the Center for Disaster Preparedness; Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement; Oxfam; Coastal Core; Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development; Damayan ng Maralitang Pilipinong Api Inc.; Plan International; University of the Philippines College of Social Welfare and Community Development; and the World Vision Development Foundation Inc.
In a letter to Salceda prior to their consultation meeting, DRRNetPhils Lead Convenor Maria Felizar-Cagay, has pledged support to the bill and commended the lawmaker for “being a champion and for continuously seeking ways to improve the disaster-risk reduction and management system in the country.”
In line with CBDRRM’s advocacy of building resilient communities, Cagay said they have — among others —“undertaken legislative advocacies in both houses of the Philippine Congress” and supported the passage of RA 10121, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.
Salceda was former governor of Albay, a province acknowledged internationally for its best practices in achieving zero casualty during disasters. He elected as cochairman of the United Nations Green Climate Fund Board in Paris, France, in 2013, the first Asian and Filipino to lead the fund’s 24-member Board.
Disaster-management law
SEN. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., meanwhile, sought for a review of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 saying that, while the law provides for a congressional sunset review five years after its passage, no such evaluation had taken place.
Lacson, in filing Senate Resolution 10, said it is time for the Congressional Oversight Committee on Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 to find ways to improve the law and its implementation.
“[T]here is also a necessity to evaluate the performance of government agencies in implementing the provisions of the Act and to determine whether the mandates were carried out effectively, and if the mechanisms and processes established are effectual,” Lacson said.
He pointed out that an evaluation of the accomplishments and impact of the law, and the performance and organizational structure of its implementing agencies, for purposes of determining remedial legislation.
While many natural and man-made calamities had hit the country since the act was passed in 2010, he said it was Supertyphoon Yolanda that “exposed the disconnection between the provisions of the Act and the realities and dynamics on the grounds.”
“[T]here is a need to revisit the Act in order [to] determine its effectivity and relevance when it comes to the country’s response to the challenges of the ‘new normal’ and the alarming rate of climate change, and to propose possible remedial measures,” Lacson said.
Lacson, who served as presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery from December 2013 to February 2015, said he had seen firsthand the destruction brought by Yolanda and coordinated rehabilitation efforts for those affected by the calamity.
According to Lacson, Republic Act 10121 was enacted in 2010 to strengthen the country’s institutional capacity for DRRM and build local communities’ resilience to disaster and climate-change impacts.