House OKs bill creating Disaster Resilience Department on 2nd reading

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading the measure seeking to create the proposed Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

In a vote of ayes and nays, the chamber approved House Bill 5989, creating the DDR as the country's national emergency department.

Albay Representative Joey Salceda, one of the main proponents of the measure, said the DDR will be the primary government agency “responsible, accountable, and liable for leading, managing, and organizing national efforts to prevent and reduce disaster risks, prepare for and respond to disasters, and recover, rehabilitate, and build forward better after the destruction.”

The said department will help the country deal with disasters and emergencies “not as unfortunate incidents whose impacts are beyond our control, but as risks that can be mitigated," he added.

“We can no longer deny the fact that climate change is real, that we are a volcanically and tectonically active country, and that we face several typhoons each year. Disasters are a fact of Philippine life," Salceda said.

"But we can mitigate the human and socioeconomic costs of these disasters. DDR will help ensure that we have a full-time agency in charge of keeping us strong and ready for disasters,” he added.

Once the measure is enacted in the law, the DDR will be an institutionalized agency to coordinate a national response to disasters and emergencies, replacing the ad-hoc and primary secretariat-type work of the existing National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The department will be headed by a secretary supported by undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, and directors.

The DDR will likewise take the lead in the continuous development of strategic, holistic, and systematic approaches to disaster management such as; prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation, and anticipatory adaptation strategies, measures, techniques, and options.

In his fifth State of the Nation Address last July, President Rodrigo Duterte emphasized the need for the creation of the DDR to ensure public safety during disasters.

The House of Representatives in the 17th Congress also approved the DDR bill on third and final reading, but it did not get the same approval in the Senate. — DVM, GMA News