Now on our third month!

From the colder or cooler months of December, January, and February, now we are in the third month of 2019!

That means, here in our country, school vacation is near, so is the Lenten Season. And summer, the heat, the sun, the beach will soon be back as well!

Elsewhere, March heralds spring, a kinder season than winter. It is also the season of flowers and scents.

March is also Fire Prevention Month throughout this nation. There is so much all of us have to learn and to organize so we can prevent and manage fires better.

Communities have to regularly and successfully inform and persuade all residents, young and old, to be careful not to start a fire where they are. Community residents also have to be instructed and organized for fire prevention and management. This year, hopefully, all communities will have organized their self-help system for dissemination as well as training and mobilization for fire prevention and management.

Sitio residents can organize themselves, with several households forming a DRRM (Disaster Risk Reduction and Management) team, well-briefed, organized, and always ready to prevent and manage disasters in their respective sitios or the rest of their community and nearby communities.

Coordinated teamwork can ensure better protection and prompt emergency response. The more communities are organized with a working system for DRRM, the more people and resources can be saved and protected. Communities should also ensure access, support, and assistance to responding vehicles and personnel.

There may be existing self-help groups in various communities now that can serve as model for other communities. It will also be helpful if the city and BFP already have a stable database showing the causes, the location, and date/time of fires that hit the city for various years. The data can be used in the fire prevention dissemination campaign to alert all, especially those in previously affected communities, to be more vigilant about fire prevention and management. The data, we hope, also include information about the response/ arrival time of the responding fire trucks and other team members as well as identification of other participating teams and units from other LGUS, private groups, etc.

Ideally, the DRRM team should include 1.) Sitio and community selected participants with assigned tasks and responsibilities, 2.) The police to lead ambulances, fire trucks, and all response personnel to the affected communities and to immediately install order and secure parameters for affected victims and their property, 3.) DSWD and local government as well as private service providers to meet the victims’ immediate and long-term needs (registration, clean food and drinking water provisions, accommodations, counseling, evacuation centers, others).

Institutionalizing an effective DRRM system with the valuable assistance and participation of communities, government, and private teams can go a long way in protecting people, barangays, and resources. May this Fire Prevention Month succeed in installing and ensuring the mainstreaming of this effective DRRM system all throughout our barangays, cities, and provinces.

March is also designated as the month that celebrates women. Specifically, March 8 is International Women’s Day. This year’s campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter- better the gender balance, better the world.

“Balance is not a women's issue, it is a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage ... Gender balance is essential for human rights, for economies and communities to thrive.”

Balance drives a better working world. Collectively we can all play a part. Let's all help create a #BalanceforBetter.

Refer to https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme.