LGU executives should be on top in disaster management

While Typhoon Ompong was threatening Luzon including Metro Manila, in the east coast of the USA Hurricane Florence was wreaking havoc in the Atlantic coasts of North and South Carolina, the northern parts of Florida and the southern portions of Virginia. We were in New York then, preparing to fly from La Guardia Airport to Las Vegas, but we had a stopover in Charlotte, a city in North Carolina. But our fears were somehow assuaged by the hourly updates given by the agency in charge of natural disaster management. The Governor of North Carolina was on top of the situation, supported by the medics, the military rescue teams, and some civic volunteer groups, which were all acting in teamwork and harmony.

In our country, I wish to see more of our governors and mayors being very visible on TV directing pre-emptive actions including pre-disaster evacuations. The local executives should take primary responsibility in disaster preparedness, before, during and after the natural disaster, whether typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, fires, and all other catastrophes, calamities, and epidemics. These are not just for show in aid of re-election, but a real and honest-to-goodness protocol where directions are clear, situs of responsibilities are delineated and logistics are appropriated. We do not have to beg for donations as if we are the perennial mendicants who are always caught unprepared.

When local governments declare a national calamity, it is usually to find a legal justification to use the calamity funds. But the manner of distribution, allocation and sharing should never be dictated by political color but on the degree of need and the urgency of the required resources. The government should control and audit giant TV and radio networks and other media programs and personalities that are engaged in fund-raising. The DSWD should oversee and really inquire into the manner and the systems of accepting donations and distributing them. They should be made to render audited reports after each disaster or calamity.

The US never allows private sectors to accept public donations and freely decide on how to allocate them. The governors and mayors have public accountability. They can be audited by the COA and investigated by the Ombudsman. Thus, it is better that these matters are placed in their hands. media people should focus on reports and information dissemination. They should leave disaster management to the experts and to the authorities. These things are not within the competence and the mandate of journalists. And they have no public accountability.

Above all, the local government executives should take overall responsibility. Any national, regional or local agency with the mandate should report to the governor and the mayor. There should only be only one operation in any given locality.

The DILG should study the American way and pick up what is applicable to our unique circumstances. It is not wrong to copy if we do learn from best practices of better experienced systems. It is high time that we learn and shape up.