House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed to pass a bill creating a Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) before Congress goes on a break on Oct. 13.
“We can pass this on third and final reading at the House of Representatives as the committee at the Senate would come up [with its version] when we resume session after the Halloween break,” she said.
Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez, principal author of the bill, said its passage into law could significantly lower the country’s vulnerability to natural hazards, protect many lives and save property.
“We can now look forward to the future with hope, knowing that the government is ready, better equipped and committed to exert its best effort to reduce the risks that come with natural disasters, to empower local communities to rise above the different vulnerabilities that surround them and to ensure that in the years to come,” she said.
Camarines Sur Rep. Lray Villafuerte said a new Cabinet-level department would put in place and oversee disaster preparation, risk management and post-disaster relief and rehabilitation operations in lieu of the ad hoc nature of current government efforts, which have now become untenable with climate change.
“The government can better achieve its zero-casualty goals as the would-be department could go full-blast on preemptive evacuation, especially of people in coastal and mountainous villages,” he added.
At the same time, Arroyo cited the importance of having a master plan for flood control during a meeting with officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways about the Pampanga Delta development program.
“I was informed by the DPWH that the feasibility study for the river will be opened Oct. 11,” she said.
“We have to push through with it. Let us see why there are those opposing it.”
The coordination meeting was attended by local officials and representatives of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan to develop a master plan for flood control in the three provinces.
The Pampanga River begins at the San Antonio swamps in Nueva Ecija, and goes down to Pampanga and Bulacan.
Arroyo said the second phase of the PDDP will be prioritized as the first phase was completed before the program was cut short in 2002.
The feasibility study for the third phase will begin in 2019.