Overseer for Disaster Resilience seen

“One of the tenets of the bill, Roque said, is the appointment of one person to oversee the chain of command during calamities.

To mitigate disaster risk in times of calamities, the Office of the President, through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), submitted yesterday the administration’s version of the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

This was transmitted to the Offices of the Senate President and the House Speaker, the Palace confirmed Tuesday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. said the bill is anchored on the government’s experience with previous disasters, among them Supertyphoon Yolanda and guided by President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership principles.

One of the tenets of the bill, Roque said, is the appointment of one person to oversee the chain of command during calamities and the clear powers given to that person.

The DDR is envisioned to have a sole focus on natural hazards and disasters.

“It shall be guided by a disaster resilience framework that shall deliver on three Key Result Areas: disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and response, and recovery and building forward better,” Roque added.

But while the bill seeks to appoint only one overseer, the Palace official clarified that other agencies related to disaster mitigation such as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) will still have to fulfill their mandates.

“What he wants is someone is in charge. The President made this very clear when the proposed bill was presented in the last cabinet meeting. Of course, the bill adopted what the President wants: only one person is in charge,” Roque said.

“Although inevitably there will have to be inter-agency work because the line agencies do still have their mandates,” he added.

Once the law is passed, the Palace official said, it will be a significant step towards attaining safe, adaptive and disaster-resilient communities by leading efforts to reduce the risk of natural hazards and the effects of climate change.

The bill is a product of inter-agency teamwork, building on the salient points of the pending bills in Congress. It also benefitted from a close study of global best practices in disaster resilience and customizing each to the Philippine context.