Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin, Tingog Rep. Yedda welcome OK of Dept’t of Disaster Resilience Act on 2nd reading
HOUSE Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez on Thursday welcomed the second reading approval of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), which seeks to create a primary agency responsible for leading the national effort before, during and after disasters.
The Romualdezes said the proposal “would help drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, the bureaucratic red tape that has caused many delays in the delivery of immediate assistance needed by disaster and calamity victims.”
They are principal authors of House Bill (HB) No. 5989 also known as the “Department of Disaster Resilience Act” which was approved by the House of Representatives on second reading through voice voting last Tuesday afternoon.
Majority Leader Romualdez heads the powerful House committee on rules while Rep. Yedda Romualdez is chairperson of the House committee on welfare of children.
Batangas Rep. Mario Vittorio Mariño, chairman the House committee on government reorganization, sponsored HB 5989 or the DDR under Committee Report No. 200.
“A new Department of Disaster Resilience will effectively improve the institutional capacity of the government for disaster risk reduction and management, reduce the vulnerabilities surrounding the affected local population as well as build the resilience of local communities to both natural disasters and climate change,” the Romualdez couple said.
“Guaranteeing disaster resiliency through closer coordination and stronger management synchronization at all levels of the country’s disaster risk reduction and management system cannot be delayed any further,” the Romualdezes added.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, also another principal author of the DDR Act, said the measure will improve the country’s disasters and emergencies preparations.
“We can no longer deny the fact that climate change is real, that we are a volcanically and tectonically active country, and that we face several typhoons each year. Disasters are a fact of Philippine life,” Salceda said.
“But we can mitigate the human and socioeconomic costs of these disasters. DDR will help ensure that we have a full-time agency in charge of keeping us strong and ready for disasters,” Salceda stressed.
The DDR guarantees a unity of command, science-based approach, and full-time focus on natural hazards and disasters.
The DDR shall also provide leadership in the continuous development of strategic and systematic approaches to disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation, and anticipatory adaptation strategies, measures, techniques and options.
It shall also augment the capacity of local government units (LGUs) in collaboration with relevant national agencies and other stakeholders to implement disaster risk reduction and management and climate change action plans, programs, projects and activities.
