Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, principal author of the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience in the 17th Congress, on Sunday said its institutionalization is the priority, not the size of the new agency.
He vowed to support a Senate proposal for an agency under the Office of the President instead “if it pushes the law to the finish line.”
“SP (Juan Miguel) Zubiri’s proposal is okay. I will endorse it as a compromise with my colleagues in the House, as long as it moves the bill forward toward PBBM’s desk,” he said, reacting to Zubiri’s statement that the Senate would discuss a downscaled version of the agency creation.
Earlier, he challenged the Senate to take the bill up, hoping that the bill’s passage has a chance under Zubiri’s Senate presidency.
“As long as it retains key elements, it will do,” he said.
“The key element is the institutionalization of resilience initiatives. It can’t be ad hoc in operationalization, the way the OCD-NDRRMC relationship is,” he added.
“Another key element is proximity to the President. If it is an office under the President, it will be good. I also suggest that the chair of the agency be a presidential adviser with Cabinet rank so that he or she can work with the rest of the Cabinet,” he stated.
He, however, said the critical aspect would be the abolition of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Instead of a council, the management of disasters must be institutional of collegial, he stressed.
“As long as it is not a council but an agency, I am okay. That is my position,” he maintained.
According to Salceda, the advantage of a new agency is that unlike the multiple mandates of the existing agencies, “the agency can focus on continuous capacity building, leading to culture building.”