Group lauds making of dept. on disasters

CEBU, Philippines —  The Association of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers of the Philippines, Inc. said that they are one with President Rodrigo Duterte and the policymakers in making a department for disaster resilience for reasons of stability, sustainability, functionality, and continuity of essential services of all the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers (LDRRMOs)

"Our position has been lobbied to the Office of the President, national government agencies, policymakers and legislators. I have high optimism that the voices from the ground will be heard since the DRRM encompasses both points in the north and the south,” read a statement from Ben Fredrick Rodriguez, president of ALDRRMOs of the Philippines, Inc.

Republic Act No. 10121, which was signed into law in May 2010, created the LDRRMOs in every province, city and municipality of the country to be responsible for setting the direction, development, implementation, and coordination of disaster risk management programs within their territorial jurisdictions.

Under the said law, the LDRRMO is under the local chief executives.

It said that nine years have passed but the LDRRM officers remain marginalized and are struggling on several fronts. Only a handful LDRRM Officers are permanent wherein mostly are designated and handling multiple functions.

“Disaster Resilience and Sustainability cannot be relied to a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous state as a matter of public service. VUCA na nga ang kaharap ng mga LDRRMOs araw-araw in protecting the citizens. I don’t think anyone will solve VUCA with VUCA. This may just be a never-ending casual loop of problems that I fear might become a mental model. What we want is a productive sequence,” Rodriguez added.

The statement said that change in local leadership is considered a political hazard as it is a threat to continuity of essential services.

"Trust and confidence of the local chief executives play a big part in the lives of those already permanent LDRRM officers threatening their security of tenure. This was evident after the 2013 and 2016 elections wherein a number of LDRRMOs were placed on a floating status while some were pressured to the point of resignation while those holding a designation only were easily or harshly replaced. Such happened again following this year’s 2019 elections," the statement further read.

The association believes that the government and the people will never benefit from such a resource-wasting scenario as it means starting all over again, or worse, going back to zero.

Rodriguez said that in the event that the department is created to assume all responsibilities of LDRRMOs, there will be a unity of command and meaningful interoperability among all them, and they can operate in conjunction with each other.

The setup, he said, will also insulate the LDRRMO from political harassment because he or she is not alone and he or she belongs to a department.

Rodriguez added that addressing hazards and disasters will no longer be dependent on the internal revenue allotment since DRRM is already a department and will have its own budget. — BRP (FREEMAN)