The recent calamities have taken thousands of lives and millions of pesos in damages to property and infrastructure.  We already know how our country has been devastated by Ondoy and Pepeng.  The aftermath of these twin calamities made us realize how vulnerable we are in times of disasters.  If there is one thing that we can consider the optimistic side of our plight is that many eyes were opened.  Especially those in the government, how these things (emergency preparedness) were taken for granted. 

The NDCC or the National Disaster Coordinating Council, when asked about the heavy criticisms regarding their inadequate response to Ondoy victims, admitted that this is because they have no budget for operations because they are not an operating agency, just an ad hoc body.  Line government agencies are used to respond to disasters using their own budgets.  In the senate, there are bills being pushed aiming to remedy this flaw of the current disaster system.  Senator Richard Gordon authored the Senate Bill 3086, now in its third reading, institutionalizing the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management and Recovery Framework.  While Senator Trillanes intends to push for Senate Bill 2086, creating an Emergency Management Agency which will be under the Office of the President.  This agency will have its own budget and will be dedicated to disaster mitigation and preparedness with quick response mechanism.

In the current set-up of disaster management in the Philippines, self-reliance is the main context wherein mutual assistance between the local officials and their constituent is encouraged.  That is why the responsibility for leadership in times of emergencies rest on the provincial governors, city mayors, and municipal mayors, and barangay chairman.  The local disaster coordinating council, which is headed by the city mayor, is the closest to the people.  Rescue, evacuation, relief and rehabilitation operations are executed at this level.  This function was further emphasized in RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.  The broad scope of their function includes preparedness, mitigation, response and rehabilitation. 

Here at home, the Calamba City Disaster Coordinating Council (CCDCC), when asked regarding how well they have “performed” on September 26 admitted that they were caught unprepared especially when the flood waters were beginning to rise.  This calamity has exposed the council’s inadequacies in terms of their people’s rescue skills and important equipments to promptly carry-out their tasks.  According to Mr. Bartolome Bisaya, Deputy Coordinator of CCDCC, their efficiency to respond depends on how equipped their people are to deal with critical situations and the availability of specialized equipments.  Presently, the CCDCC do not have any heavy equipment, no rubber boat, no truck, no patrol boat, not enough first-aid kits, and they have no specialized rescue team.  With meager budgetary allotment, Calambeño would have to rely on themselves when the next typhoon arrives. 

In the agency’s recent consultation with the city mayor’s office, it was announced that 68 million pesos of the city’s calamity fund will be allotted to relief and rehabilitation works.  This will include food and medicine supplies, rehabilitation of schools and bridges, construction of temporary shelters and development of emergency preparedness program.

Ondoy and Pepeng made us realize that our country is indeed geographically speaking susceptible to disasters,    in fact, according to the Center for Research and Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in Belgium, Philippines is at the top of the list of countries hit by disasters, having hit by an average of 10 disasters a year since 1991.  The government, both the national and the local, must have a disaster management program that will not fail at any eventuality.—APS

References:

Uy, Jocelyn & Dizon, Nikko. “Ondoy exposed flaws in gov’t disaster system.” Philippine Daily Inquirer.

9 October 2009. <http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091009-229128/Ondoy-exposed-flaws-in-govt-disaster-system>

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Liaison Office Manila with the National Disaster Coordinating Council-Office of Civil Defense., “The Philippine Disaster Management System.” Contingency Planning for Emergencies-A Manual for Local Government Units.

May 2003. 20 October 2009. <http://210.185.184.53/ndccWeb/images/ndccWeb/publication/cpm.pdf>