House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has vowed to pass the consolidated measure on the proposed law seeking to create the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), including the latest version filed by Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt Romualdez.
Arroyo said the establishment of DDR is among her priority bills to be approved when Congress resumes session today (Tuesday) after a 12-day recess.
“The Disaster Management bill is among the priority measures when we resume,” said Arroyo on the proposal to be sponsored in the plenary by House committee on government reorganization chairman and Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo and other authors.
Earlier, the House committee on appropriations, chaired by Davao City
Rep. Karlo Nograles approved the funding provision of the measure. The committee approved the proposal for a total of P20.2-billion for the DDR and P6.5 billion as Quick Response Fund or a total of P26.7 billion and the amount will be included in the 2019 proposed P3.757-trillion national budget.
Romualdez thanked Arroyo for her commitment to pass the consolidated DDR measure, which has also been advocated by President Rodrigo Duterte
“We thank Speaker Arroyo for her strong commitment to pass the DDR. With her competence and outstanding credentials as experienced leader, we can be assured that this proposal will be approved in this Congress,” said Romualdez, wife of Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) President Martin Romualdez, the original proponent of the bill during the previous 16th Congress where he served as the House Independent Bloc leader as congressman of Leyte.
“Speaker Arroyo has a clear vision for the country and has a great ability to get the job done,” said Yedda Romualdez, chairperson of the House committee on accounts.
Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte, also one of the principal authors of the measure, said the proposed DDR would oversee all programs and activities to reduce the country’s vulnerability to natural calamities and climate change.
“The government cannot achieve high and inclusive growth without making our country climate resilient. With the unfortunate distinction of being ground zero for climate disaster, the Philippines’ losses during the typhoon season amounts to around 2 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product), while reconstruction efforts after disasters costs another 2 percent of our GDP based on our estimates,” said Villafuerte.
House Bill (HB) 7968 of Rep. Romualdez was an improved version of her HB 344 that she earlier filed following Duterte’s renewed call during his third State of the Nation Address (SoNA) for Congress to expedite the passage of the bill that mandates the creation of a new department that would exclusively manage preparation and response to calamities.
Romualdez, a vice chairperson of the House committee on government enterprises and privatization, said her proposal “aims to drastically reduce, if not totally eliminate, the bureaucratic red tape which has caused many delays in the delivery of immediate assistance needed by the victims.”
To ensure DDR’s unity of command as President Duterte pointed out, the Romualdez bill will abolish the Climate Change Commission and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
“The Department shall be authorized to call upon relevant government agencies and facilitate the assistance of non-government and private organizations, especially in emergency cases,” Romualdez’s bill said.
The bill guarantees fast and responsive procurement process to ensure the swift delivery of assistance.
“The Department shall institutionalize innovative and responsive procurement mechanisms, e.g. stand-by contracts, pre-arranged systems of procurement with a pre-approved list of contractors, pre-negotiated contracts, advanced procurement contracts, and framework contracts, among others, to ensure the country’s resilience to natural hazards and disasters,” it said.
The proposal empowers the DDR to develop science and IT-based approach “mechanisms to ensure the inter-operability of systems among relevant agencies to ensure real-time access to relevant information, including multi-hazard mapping, risk assessment, early warning, exposure database, and communication and emergency management systems, and among others.”