House passes bill creating Disaster Resilience Department

MANILA, Philippines — A bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) was passed on third and final reading at the House of Representatives yesterday.

Voting 241-7 with one abstention, lawmakers approved House Bill 5989, which substitutes at least 30 bills approved by the committees on government reorganization and disaster management in November last year.

The House passed a similar measure during the previous Congress in October 2018. But the bill’s counterpart version failed to get Senate approval.

House disaster management committee chair and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, principal author of the measure, said the DDR is necessary to address government’s uncohesive response.

Gomez cited the country’s lack of evacuation capacity and the low quality of temporary accommodations.

“We have to recognize that our current system carries with it structural silos that create natural limitations to the disaster risk reduction, response, relief, recovery and rehabilitation processes,” Gomez said.

“Our status quo is functionally fragmented, with various functions under the theme of disaster resilience housed under different departments. On top of this, the overall responsibility and management for disaster resilience does not fall under one single Cabinet secretary,” she said.

Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero, co-author of the bill, cited the importance of passing the measure, which was pushed by President Duterte during his State of the Nation Address.

“While our government is now focused on its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, we also have to be prepared to respond to inevitable natural disasters such as floods, typhoons and earthquakes,” Romero said.

The bill provides that a disaster resilience department will be created as a primary agency to handle natural calamities and disasters.

The department will be primarily responsible, accountable and liable in leading, managing and organizing national efforts that prevent and reduce disaster risks.

It will prepare for and respond to disasters and recover, rehabilitate and build after the destruction.

The proposed department will be headed by a secretary who will be assisted by four undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and directors who are experts in the field of disaster risk reduction and management, science and technology, environmental science and management, urban planning, civil engineering, public finance, information and communications technology, logistics management, mass communication and other fields relevant to disaster resilience.

The department will also establish regional, provincial, city, municipal and barangay disaster resilience offices following the abolition of the local disaster risk reduction and management offices.