House commits to pass DDR bill

Victims of disasters, like Batanes residents who experienced a magnitude 5.9 tremor on 27 July 2019, will have faster access to assistance and other relief materials once the Department of Disaster Resilience is created. (PCOO)

The House leadership under Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is committed to pass the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) bill, which President Rodrigo Duterte has endorsed in his last two State of the Nation Addresses.

The DDR, principally authored by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, shall “guarantee unity of command, and science-based approach to and full-time focus on natural hazards and, even human-induced, disasters.”

In the Upper House, neophyte Sen. Bong Go filed a similar bill that seeks to repeal Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 which created the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and mandated the Office of Civil Defense to be the council’s secretariat and coordinating arm.

Salceda, also the House Ways and Means Committee chair, said the DDR is envisioned as the primary government agency that “shall be responsible, accountable, and liable for leading, managing, and organizing national efforts to prevent and reduce disaster risks; prepare for and respond to disasters; and recover, rehabilitate, and build forward better after the destruction.”

The proposal was approved by the House in the 17th Congress but failed to pass the Senate due to lack of time. Salceda said the journey of the DDR bill actually began with the sunset review of the NDRRM Act of 2010 as mandated by RA 10121.

From 2015 to 2016, the review set the basis for the initial drafts of 34 bills and four House resolutions on disaster risk reduction and management.

The DDR will be a full-blown department headed by a Secretary and supported by undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors. Before RA 10121, OCD handled preparedness and response activities.

As conceived, the DDR will lead in the “continuous development of strategic, holistic and systematic approaches to disaster management, including prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation, and anticipatory adaptation strategies, measures, techniques and options.”

The new department will also promote accelerated capacity building by local government units (LGUs) with relevant national agencies and other stakeholders for the implementation of disaster and climate change plans, programs, projects and activities. It will also be tasked to formulate “comprehensive guidelines on the initiation, entry, facilitation, transit and regulation of international relief goods and personnel, as well as eligibility guidelines on how to legally assist international players, as well as provide sanctions for prohibited acts by public officials and private persons or institutions.”

Aside from the OCD, the DDR will also absorb the Climate Change Office of the Climate Change Commission, Geo-Hazard Assessment and Engineering Geology Section of the Mines of the Geosciences Bureau of DENR, Health Emergency Management Bureau of the Department of Health, Social Welfare Department Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau.

The Bureau of Fire Protection shall be detached from the Local Government department while the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), currently under the Department of Science and Technology, will be attached to it.

The DDR will retain the OCD National Council with an expanded membership as its policy advisory board of the Department. It also creates a Multi-Stakeholders’ Convergence Unit to help align disaster resilience efforts of the private sector, CSOs, academe, and other stakeholders with those of the DDR by assisting, coordinating, or providing them services that strengthen public-private cooperation and coordination for disaster resilience.

Salceda said the DDR will also have a distinct National Disaster Resilience Fund scheme that allows fund inputs from both national and local government bodies. Under its new fund scheme, only 20% of resources can be used for quick response or stand-by fund, while the remaining 80% is for climate change adaptation, disaster risk and vulnerability reduction and mitigation, disaster risk transfer, disaster preparedness, recovery, rehabilitation and anticipatory adaptation.

A Disaster Resilience Support Fund (DRSF) will be dedicated exclusively for the use of third to sixth-class provinces and towns in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating their programs, projects, and activities for climate change adaptation, disaster risk prevention and mitigation, disaster risk transfer, and disaster preparedness.

Based on the 2019 national expenditure program, the budget of government agencies absorbed by DDR would amount to P31 billion.