PH needs permanent disaster agency
As country becomes ‘hot spot’ for disasters
HOUSE Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Sarte Salceda has said that a global report showing the Philippines to be at the “highest risk” of being hit by disasters shows the need to institutionalize disaster risk reduction and response through a permanent implementing agency rather than a mere coordinating council.
The World Risk Report 2022 by Germany-based Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict at Ruhr University Bochum (IFHV) showed that the global hot spots of disaster risk from natural hazards are in the Americas and Asia, with the Philippines being at highest risk among all countries surveyed.
“This is a huge jump from the score of 21.39 last year. We are now at 46.82, highlighting how much climate change and other global developments disproportionately affect our country,” Salceda said.
“Climate risks and other related risks are thus no longer an issue we can deal with on a time-to-time basis. It is now an everyday reality – something we need to work on permanently rather than merely coordinate about when the disaster comes,” Salceda said.
Salceda, the principal author of the law creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), said that the country’s risk profile “warrants a permanent agency, not a mere coordinating council.”
“Things like, say, a fiesta or a special international event are what you need coordinating councils for. Disasters, especially when they are a key feature of our socioeconomic reality, need something stronger, more permanent,” he said.
“That is why I am prepared, and I believe the House shares this sentiment, to compromise on the size of the agency need if that is what it takes for a permanent agency to be set up,” Salceda said, pointing out that while he still believes the ideal case is a “Department” is created, he is willing to go for a version that instead creates a permanent agency under the Office of the President.
“It can be an agency like the NEDA [National Economic and Development Authority] that is not necessarily a Department, but whose head is a cabinet member. It can also be like the Presidential Management System, whose head is also cabinet-rank, but which is fully subsumed in the Office of the President,” he said.
“Anything that allows us to build capacities for disasters and to implement programs, activities, and projects on a regular basis. Anything that brings disaster-related concerns straight to the highest levels of government decision-making. That is better than what we have now,” Salceda added.
Both House and Senate bills on the matter are still pending in their respective committees, although Salceda says he is confident the chambers will take them up after the October break. President Marcos has identified the bill as a “Presidential priority” in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“We will have time after the budget. There is a consensus. I am hopeful we can build on it and get it out of both chambers before 2022 ends,” Salceda said.
