Ex-mayor says Purok System saved his town from Yolanda

ORMOC CITY , Philippines—  Alfredo Arquillano Jr., former mayor of San Francisco town in Camotes Island of Cebu province, told the Leyteños in a gathering in this city how his brainchild, the Purok System, saved his town with zero casualty during the onslaught of typhoon Yolanda last year.
 

Arquillano, architect of  his island-town's Disaster Risk Reduction Management Purok System, said the scheme, the gist of which is education, proved to be vital in mitigating the hazards brought by disasters.

"Through education down to the grassroots level, the people became more aware and involved in government approaches to improve the living condition and security aspects of  San Francisco," Arquillano said, as he explained the Purok System that he implemented in his town during his term as mayor.

Arquillano, now the president of Regional Center of  Expertise for Sustainable Development-Cebu, was speaker of an event in this city on Friday, initiated by the DOST, the DILG and the Office of Civil Defense, and attended by governors and mayors of eastern Visayas.

"With education you can lessen threat and abort disaster hazards," Arquillano said after narrating, with visual aids, how his constituents showed their response capabilities during disasters, which caught the attention and recognition of other countries around the world.

His town, under his term as mayor, was cited by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction  as a role model in a highly hazardous part of the world. His Purok System also earned the UN's Sasakawa Award for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2011.

Arquillano said he implemented the Purok System, done in the smallest groups in every barangay, to equip and prepare the people of any eventualities. He told his audience of the positive results of the scheme when not one died during Yolanda, the most devastating typhoon to hit his town ever.

"Properties can be reacquired, not lives," he told The Freeman after the event.  (FREEMAN)