Sen. Ralph Recto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto questioned the need for disaster risk alerts to be processed and approved by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) before they are sent out to the public.
Recto called it a “cumbersome process” for the NDRRMC to review advisories from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) or Pagasa and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) before sending them to telecommunications companies (telcos) for dissemination.
Recto, in a statement on Thursday, suggested that the NDRRMC be “taken out of the equation” and let agencies communicate directly with the telcos.
“If a tsunami is racing toward a province at the speed of a jet plane, bakit ang mensahe dadaan pa ng Camp Aguinaldo? That should be delegated to the responsible agency. When lives are at stake, warnings should be fast and timely,” he said.
“Sa ngayon kasi Pagasa has to send a warning to NDRRMC, sa Operations Center nito, then the proposed emergency warning will be sent to the NDRRMC Executive Director for approval, and only if he has approved it can the NDRRMC send it to telcos for text blasting,” Recto explained.
‘Why the need for a middleman?’
“Why should there be middleman in a process that should be characterized by speed?” Recto said.
He said that the “few and infrequent” alert warnings are the effect of the “circuitous way” that proposed messages are being processed and that telecos should not be blamed for this.
According to Recto, the NDRRMC brings “no value-added input” to alerts that are “based on science and crafted by scientists.”
“They cannot veto science. Ang pwede lang siguro maitulong ay sa editorial, on crafting the required number of characters in a text message or a tweet. But the PhDs in Pagasa can do this,” he said.
Also, Recto suggested that the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) be allowed to set up a hotline, together with telcos, that will b authorized to send emergency alerts.
“They have people on the ground, flood watchers, kaya kung lampas baywang na ang baha, sila ang may alam. Pagasa can only measure the rainfall. But height of floodwaters, MMDA ang may alam diyan,” he said. Christia Marie Ramos/Inquirer Volunteer Corps