A permanent gov’t body for rehab in disaster-prone Phl

Over the weekend, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported more than 86,000 people are still staying in various evacuation centers in Eastern Samar and other provinces hardest hit by the recent typhoon “Ruby.” Sadly, these typhoon-affected people may likely spend their Christmas in these evacuation centers.

According to the NDRRMC, these 86,474 individuals (or about 16,876 families) are taking shelter in 327 evacuation centers in nine regions after being displaced by Ruby that struck the country two weeks ago. “Many of them may spend Christmas in evacuation centers, especially those who lost their homes,” NDRRMC spokesperson Mina Marasigan admitted.

The NDRRMC recorded about 290,670 houses were destroyed. It forced thousands of residents to seek refuge in safer grounds, most of them going to evacuation centers. As of last official count of the NDRRMC, Ruby left 18 persons dead and 916 others injured and damaged more than P5 billion worth of agriculture and infrastructure.

Still reeling from the damage of Ruby are residents in Samar who, most likely than not, will celebrate Christmas literally in dark. Electricity has not been restored in many areas where Ruby toppled many transmission lines that cut off power supply.

 Much worse loss of lives and destruction were prevented largely because of preparations done by national and local government authorities days before Ruby struck. These were credited to the lessons learned from last year’s super typhoon “Yolanda” that devastated the same provinces.  

Regarded as the world’s strongest typhoon in recent times, Yolanda left in its path widespread destruction and more than 6,000 people dead. Yolanda almost wiped out Tacloban City and has changed the landscape of other nearby cities and towns of Leyte as well as in Samar. Many people are still unaccounted for. But the NDRRMC has stopped the official counting of the dead and missing.

For the many survivors from Yolanda onslaught, they could only count upon the government’s commitment to help them get back on their feet. That is why it is important to have somebody take charge of that commitment of the government be served and delivered on the ground.

With this in mind, President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III created the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) in December last year a month after Yolanda’s devastation. President Aquino tapped his former colleague at the Senate, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to head the OPARR.

Lacson’s job, however, was limited to mere coordination of all government agencies implementing all Yolanda-related rehabilitation projects and programs. One year after its creation, the OPARR chief believes he has completed his job.

Lacson announced last Friday he is ready to turn over to President Aquino his exit report, including a “transition proposal” regarding the government’s “build-back-better” projects for victims of typhoon Yolanda. Lacson’s proposal calls for the smooth implementation of the provisions of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Law under Republic Act 10121, or the law that established the NDRRMC on May 27, 2010.

“I think it is wise to allot enough time for the permanent agency to take on the functions of the OPARR,” Lacson stressed. As it is right now, the OPARR exclusively serves Yolanda disaster areas only.

Lacson explained turning over OPARR’s responsibilities to the NDRRMC is the most logical thing to do since this is the government body created by law to handle these functions. Under this law, the NDRRMC is an inter-agency body – also like OPARR. It is co-headed by two Cabinet secretaries but an executive director is the official tasked to run the day-to-day operations of the NDRRMC.

Under the Aquino administration, the NDRRMC is co-headed by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II. Former Philippine Navy chief, retired General Alexander Pama is the current NDRRMC executive director.

As a former lawmaker himself, Lacson sees the need to amend RA 10121 in order to expand the scope of the NDRRMC to effectively fulfill its mandate and rehabilitate areas devastated by natural calamities. This is because, he pointed out, the NDRRMC Law is subject to congressional oversight and review within five years of its enactment.

Under RA 10121, the scope of the NDRRMC covers three phases – disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster preparedness, and disaster response. Obviously, there was nothing provided under the NDRRMC Law on post-disaster which should cover rehabilitation and recovery.

Actually, Lacson disclosed the idea of institutionalized agency of all rehabilitation and recovery efforts of the national government came out from his consultations with development partners and sponsors in the Yolanda rehabilitation efforts, particularly the private sector and the multilateral and bilateral agencies.

According to the United Nations Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2014, the Philippines is among the world’s most natural disaster-prone areas. Our country contributed to the 350,000 people killed in more than 500 natural disaster incidents that occurred in South East Asia between the years 2004 to 2013.

For a country prone to disaster, it is a valid proposal for the government to put up a permanent body that would take charge of the post-disaster rehabilitation. There is still time for the 16th Congress to revisit the NDRRMC law.

“The bottom line is, we are a transition body and inevitably, we will have to fold up the tent down the road,” Lacson said. So politics had nothing to do with his bowing out of OPARR? Amid coffee shop talk of his possible running anew for the presidency in the 2016 elections, Lacson, to his credit, has kept OPARR out of politics.

While it may be an idiomatic expression, Lacson’s allusion to folding his “tent” as OPARR chief perhaps reminded him of makeshift shelters for Yolanda victims. But a more permanent government body in charge of post-disaster rebuilding is indeed better than a temporary tent like OPARR.