President Marcos Jr. wants to put the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) under the Office of the President to streamline disaster response efforts and to hasten the delivery of government response and aid during calamities and rehabilitation efforts.
The President said: “We will put the national disaster response team under the Office of the President. And I think that we are headed in that direction because of the weather that we are suffering now from the effects of climate change.”
Marcos said that while the government’s disaster response has been “a good one,” “ I believe that there are ways that we can make it even more streamlined.”
He made the statements in Tacloban City which commemorated yesterday the death of thousands of victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” nine years ago and to recognize the rescue workers’ courage.
He added there is still room for improvement in the distribution of assistance, and in efforts to rebuild infrastructure, reinstate communication and electricity, and ensuring that local government units (LGUs) are functioning in the aftermath of disasters.
Marcos did not specify when the transfer would be done but said he is planning to do it “in the near future”.
The NDRRMC is the main body that is in-charge of the coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and supervision of functions related to disaster response and risk reduction. It is currently administered by the Office of Civil Defense under the Department of National Defense (DND) and is chaired by the DND secretary.
Marcos said the current changes in weather and season patterns due to climate change has highlighted the urgent need to improve disaster response.
He noted that typhoons have now become much stronger and other calamities have more destructive, which makes reforms to make the country more proactive and responsive to disasters more imperative.
Speaker Martin Romualdez backed the President’s call for the transfer of the NDRRMC from the DND to the OP, saying the transfer “gives the President a direct hand in managing government responses to natural calamities and in mitigating the impact of climate change-related issues and problems.”
“It simplifies the flow of responsibility and directives to the more than 30 departments, agencies and organizations sitting in the council,” he said.
‘YOLANDA’
The President, in recalling the devastation that resulted from Yolanda in November 2013, said he wants to see the reforms implemented during his term.
He assured the people of Tacloban that his administration would sustain and prioritize the city’s recovery following the completion of the resettlement of displaced families and the provision of support to affected businesses.
More than 6,300 people died while more than 30,000 people were injured, and more than 3 million families were affected by Yolanda. More than 1.1 million homes and properties were also destroyed, and damage amounted to around P90 billion.
During yesterday’s commemoration of the disaster, the President questioned the accuracy of the reported 6,300 deaths and hinted there could be more after the count then was supposedly “stopped.”
“If you remember during the count of the casualties, the count was stopped. And we knew that there were still thousands out there,” he said, adding: “I have questioned it from day one. I have questioned, 6,000 plus ang sabi nila? It’s not 6,000 plus (I have questioned it from day one. I have questioned, they said it’s 6,000 plus? It’s not 6,000 plus),” Marcos said when asked to elaborate in an interview after the event.
He also said that it was already “too late” to determine the actual number of the unaccounted deaths.
The President, however, said that commemorating the Yolanda event will help keep “alive” the memories of those who remained unaccounted for.
Marcos said he joined the event in Tacloban to “commemorate those uncounted dead that up to now we do not know how many that number is.”
“For those thousands, those countless thousands, we come here, we commemorate.
Because if we no longer commemorate, their memory dies. And it is only up to us to keep that memory alive,” he said.
The President said that despite the challenges of rebuilding the lives of those who were affected, the families still pulled through the tragedy and showed the world that “the Filipino spirit will never be quelled,” and “will always burn bright and bring back normal life to their communities.”
“I think it is important that we come to these commemorations because it is also a demonstration, a manifestation of the strength and the courage of Filipinos. To remind ourselves that Filipinos are brave, that Filipinos are kind, and that Filipinos will conquer all,” he added.
Romualdez said that while it claimed many lives, the Yolanda tragedy brought out the best in people.
“It was the worst day ever for Tacloban. But it brought out the best in many of our fellow Filipinos and foreigners alike, who went out of their way to bring aid and console us in our time of grief,” Romualdez said, adding that lessons learned from the disaster still guide the country’s response to calamities today.
“Whatever resilience we have today, we owe it to the lessons of Yolanda. And this resilience is borne in part by the sacrifices of our first responders, our unity in the face of adversity, and our propensity for compassion toward our fellow citizens in times of calamities,” he said. “While it is very difficult to forget the horrors we faced during Yolanda, the important thing is we learned from this harrowing experience. And if we learned from this tragedy, we continue to honor those who perished and those who willingly sacrificed their lives for the benefit of others.”
In Palo, Leyte, Romualdez accompanied the President in distributing financial aid and equipment to farmers, and of emergency vehicles to local government units (LGUs) and schools.
A total of 20 ambulances from the Department of Health (DOH) were also turned over to LGUs under the health facilities enhancement program (HFEP).
For the financial aid to citizens, the Department of Agriculture (DA) distributed P5,000 each to around 1,200 farmer-beneficiaries under the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance program.
Cash assistance were also given to 300 beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), while a total of 200 citizens received P5,250 each from the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD). — With Wendell Vigilia
