To mitigate disaster risk in times of calamities, the Office of the President, through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), has submitted yesterday the administration’s version of the bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) to the Offices of the Senate President and the House Speaker, the Palace confirmed Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. said in a Palace press briefing on July 31 that the bill is anchored on the government’s experience with previous disasters, among them Supertyphoon Yolanda and guided by President Duterte’s leadership principles.
One of the tenets of the bill, Roque said, is the appointment of one person to oversee the chain of command during calamities and the clear powers given to that person.
“It shall be guided by a disaster resilience framework that shall deliver on three Key Result Areas: disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and response, and recovery and building forward better,” Roque added.
But while the bill seeks to appoint only one overseer, the Palace official clarified that other agencies related to disaster mitigation such as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) will still have works to do related to their mandates.
No less than President Duterte, said Roque, approved to this.
“Gusto niya someone is in charge. The President made this very clear when the proposed bill was presented in the last cabinet meeting. Of course the bill adopted what the President wants: only one person is in-charge,” Roque said.
“Although inevitably there will have to be inter-agency work because the line agencies do still have their mandates,” he added.
According to the Palace official, once the law is passed this will be a significant step towards attaining safe, adaptive, and disaster-resilient communities by leading efforts to reduce the risk of natural hazards and the effects of climate change.
The Presidential Spokesperson, in the same press briefing, denounced the fatal blast in Basilan earlier today.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest terrorist attack in Basilan perpetrated in violation of our laws,” he said.
“We note that even in times of war the attack constitutes a war crime because it constitutes an indiscriminate attack which is prohibited by Art. 4 (c) (1) attacks on civilian, by RA 9851 IHL Act of 2009,” he added.
Roque likewise said that the Palace does not want to insinuate the motive behind this attack, citing the military is already investigating the matter.
“So ‘yung nangyari naman kanina ay hindi pa naman natin alam ang sirkumstansya. Iniimbestigahan pa lang. Antayin natin ‘yung imbestigasyon,” he said.
‘Palace announces electronic export growth’
In the same press briefing, the Presidential Spokesperson announced that electronics exports for the month of May grew to US$ 3.13 billion as opposed to the US$ 3.06 billion in the same period last year.
Citing a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report, Roque said electronics are still the country’s top export products, contributing more than half of the country’s total exports of US$ 5.76 billion. (PCO-Content)
