Bagong disaster agency dapat mas mahusay sa NDRMMC – Rep. Recto

NI NOEL ABUEL

Iginiit ni Deputy Speaker at Batangas Rep. Ralph G. Recto na malaking hamon ngayon na bumuo ng bagong disaster response agency na mas mahusay at magaling sa National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC).

Ito ang sinabi ng kongresista hinggil sa planong pagbuo ng bagong opisyal na pangalan na papalit sa NDRRMC at hindi lang basta bagong pangalan .

“I think signage is the least important. The substantial aspects, like funding, to cite one, are what matter most. May kasabihan nga na ‘it does not matter if the cat is black or white, for as long as it catches the mice,” sabi ni Recto.

Idinagdag pa nito na ang kahit gawing departamento ang bagong tanggapan ay hindi naman nanganglahulugan na magiging magaling ito sa pagtugon sa  mga kalamidad.

Aniya, ang pagbuo ng bagong ahensya, ay dapat na higit pa sa “karatula change, or  rebadging” ng NCRMMC.

Tinukoy pa ni Recto ang Republic Act 10121 na nagtatatag ng national disaster risk reduction and management framework at ang NDRRMC ay maayos sa papel.

“Doon nga sa R.A. na ‘yon, ang vice chairman for disaster preparedness ay ang DILG Secretary. Ang vice chairman for disaster response ay ang DSWD secretary. For disaster prevention, the vice chair is the DOST secretary. And the NEDA head is the vice chairman for disaster recovery,” sabi ni Recto.

Pinatitiyak ng mambabatas na ang itatayong bagong disaster response and resilience agency na may sapat na tauhan at opisyal at may sapat ding pondo.

“Of course ang focus pa rin is disaster resilience because an ounce of disaster preparedness is worth a pound of disaster response when damage is mitigated,” aniya pa.

Idinagdag pa nito na dapat pahusayin at galingan ang disaster response capabilities ng bansa.

“For example, we need a fast seacraft that can serve as a floating clinic, rescue headquarters, food pantry, floating power plant that will also bring security personnel, electrical linemen, medical personnel to, say, typhoon damaged coastal towns,” sabi nito.

“Meron din isang proposal to fund the creation of a ready-to-deploy AFP medical brigade that will work in ‘peacetime’ and in crisis. If you are a country battered by two dozen typhoons a year, rocked by earthquakes, dotted by volcanoes, whose cities and farms are regularly flooded, then you need this response infrastructure,”  dagdag pa ni Recto.