Senatorial aspirant and Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig City has called on his colleagues in the Senate to consider passing its version of the bill calling for the formation of the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).
Cayetano made the call with only a handful of session days left before the 18th Congress concludes.
“I hope we don’t have to wait for the next Senate because we still have few session days left before the 18th Congress ends,” Cayetano said, as he cited the urgency for the measure to get enacted soonest.
Cayetano made his remarks as parts of Visayas and Mindanao continue to reel from the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agaton, which left 212 people dead and 132 missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRMC).
The storm affected more than 2.2 million people across nine regions of the country, leaving an estimated P1.3 billion in agricultural damage and another P6.9 million in damages to infrastructure.
The NDRRMC also reported that it has released more than P82 million in relief goods and other forms of assistance to those affected by Tropical Storm Agaton as of April 24.
However, Cayetano noted that disaster response has to go beyond delivering relief goods after the fact but must include rehabilitation as well.
The former Speaker also pointed out that having a single government agency in charge of disaster response in the country will provide focus and ensure accountability.
A former Foreign Affairs Secretary, he also said the need for executive focus was the reason for establishing the Department of Migrant Worker, which will concentrate solely on migrant workers affairs.
Cayetano was one of the principal authors of House Bill No. 5989 and led its approval as Speaker in September 2020. The Senate version of the measure, however, remains pending up to now.
Under HB 5989, the DDR will be the primary government agency responsible for leading, organizing, and managing the national effort to reduce disaster risk, prepare for and respond to disasters, recover and rehabilitate, and build forward better after the occurrence of disasters.
It would also oversee and coordinate the preparation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of disaster and climate resilience plans, programs, projects, and activities, among others.
The establishment of a government agency in charge of disaster response is a long-running advocacy of the former Speaker, going back to his previous stint as senator when in November 2013 he filed a bill calling for an Emergency Response Department in the aftermath of Super typhoon Yolanda.