National Resilience Council

In his second State of the Nation Address, President Duterte said a new department should respond to the prevailing 21st century conditions. “I am directing the Cabinet cluster on climate change adaptation and disaster risk management to immediately work hand in hand with the concerned LGUS, the private sector and the affected communities themselves in undertaking disaster (resiliency) measures.”

“While the law is being crafted with extreme urgency, we need to undertake immediate action to ensure disaster resiliency and effective response in the greater (Metro Manila) area… Disaster resiliency of Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces is a matter of urgent (national) concern.”

Since Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, much has been done on the part of the government (RA 10121) as well as the private sector (PDRF, Code-NGO and PBSP). From 2014-2017, a conference series to support the creation of  multi-stakeholder public private partnerships was launched by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation, Zuellig Family Foundation, the Manila Observatory, PDRF and recently, SM Prime. These efforts complemented the launch of ARISE (UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies) Philippines under the leadership of Han Sy of SM Prime in November 2015. While these are clearly commendable initiatives, more often than not, these well-intentioned organizations were moving forward on parallel tracks.

It was the expressed intention of the conference on “Building a Disaster Resilient Philippines” held last April 25-26 to align and possibly integrate some of these resilience endeavors on the same track.

I am pleased to confirm that a partnership agreement for a resilient Philippines was signed last Aug. 7. The signatories were Hans Sy (ARISE), Austere Panadero, Undersecretary of DILG, undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, (OCD administrator and  NDRRMC executive director) as well as representatives of the Makati Business Club, Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, the National Competitiveness Council, Manila Observatory, Zuellig Family Foundation and the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation.

The signatories endorsed the leadership of the secretary of national defense as the co-chair for government, together with Hans Sy as the co-chair for private sector. The vice-chairs are DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero, Ed Chua of Makati Business Club and Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga representing the government, business and scientific community/academe, respectively.

Resilient Cities

The key initiative of the council will be the Resilient Cities. These are based on multi-stakeholder, trans-disciplinary and integrated approaches in the context of the country’s exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change.

Resilient Cities was pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation’s Resilient Cities program. The program is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. It supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis.

Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events, and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations.

It is the objective of the council to develop short and medium term initiatives: the development of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Scorecard for local governments and the Leadership Resiliency Program for the local chief executives (LCE) and LGU officials. Capacity building training will be required for local chief executives and other officials.  The success of the resilience scorecard will be dependent on how the LCEs practice what they learn.

There are a number of similar rating systems already, the UNISDR’s 10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, the DILG’s Seal of Good Local Governance and Infrastructure Audit, the National Competitiveness Council City Competitiveness Index among others.

Prior to implementation, the National Resilience Council core group will conduct consultations on the subject matter and content experts in government, private sector, CSOs and with multiple cities/municipalities as well as  working very closely with DILG officials to determine the acceptability of the scorecards as a localized assessment tool for assessing disaster resilience.

Finally, in accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the President’s desire “to bring into focus the need for collaboration between all sectors,” the partner organizations pledged to support the establishment of a National Resilience Council (NRC). The President expressed the “extreme urgency” of creating a new department. It is our hope Congress will heed his advice and act swiftly. Upon the creation of a separate department by Congress, the NRC will provide a supporting role.