Palace submits own version of disaster dep’t bill to Congress

Malacañang has submitted to Congress its own version bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) that would lead the government’s efforts on risk reduction, preparedness, and response during calamities.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday that copies of the bill were already sent by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office to the offices of the Senate President and the House Speaker.

“The bill is anchored on government’s experience with previous disasters; among them super typhoon Yolanda,” Roque said in a press briefing.

Roque said the DDR bill incorporates a disaster resilience framework focusing on three areas—disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and response, and recovery and building forward better.

“The bill is a product of interagency work, building on the salient points of the pending bills in Congress,” the Presidential Spokesperson said.

“Once passed into law, the creation of the department will be a significant step towards attaining safe, adoptive and disaster resilient communities by leading efforts to reduce the risk of natural hazards and the effects of climate change,” he said.

Currently, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is in charge of policy-making, coordination, integration, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of disaster reduction and response efforts.

“However, this DRRM responsibility is shared among the different lead agencies in such a way that nobody is in charge of the overall disaster resilience on a full-time, focused basis,” read Malacañang’s explanatory note on the bill.

“A careful review of each of the natural hazards that the country faces will show that the Department (of Disaster Resilience) necessitates a highly-specialized set of personnel, resources and policies to bring about disaster resilience,” it said. /je