House committees approve creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

The Committees on Government Reorganization and National Defense and Security of the House of Representatives have jointly approved the substitute bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR).

After President Rodrigo Duterte called on Congress, during his last State of the Nation Address, to create a disaster management department. The substitute bill is a consolidation of eight different bills that sought to create departments and agencies for disaster management, resilience, preparedness, and rehabilitation.

According to Representative Xavier Jesus D. Romualdo (Lone District, Camiguin), Chairman of the Committee on Government Reorganization, “Last year, the two committees created a technical working group (TWG) to consolidate the different bills on the subject, receive inputs from stakeholders, and then craft a new bill. The TWG drafted a substitute bill already but it needed a few more refinements. Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed us to fast track the passage of the bill and so we worked on it right away and were able to approve it at the committee level."

Under the bill, the DDR will be the national government agency primarily responsible for:

1. disaster preparedness
2. prevention
3. mitigation
4. response
5. recovery
6. rehabilitation.

The present National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, which exercises coordination, integration, supervision, monitoring, and evaluation functions, will be replaced by the Department of Disaster Resilience Council, which shall solely be a policy-making and advisory body on disaster risk and vulnerability reduction and management and climate change adaptation.

“Functions of certain agencies, like the Office of Civil Defense and the Climate Change Commission will be transferred to the new department. Some agencies and offices, such as the Bureau of Fire Protection and the Health Emergency Management Bureau, will be put under the DDR, while the PAGASA and PHIVOLCS will be attached to the new department. Also, when there is an imminent calamity or during an actual calamity, the DDR may exercise command and control over other relevant government agencies,” Romualdo said.

Pursuant to the Rules of the House, the bill will now be transmitted to the Committee on Appropriations for its comments on the appropriation or funding provisions of the measure.

Main Source: Office of Rep. Xavier Jesus D. Romualdo
Secondary Sources: 
- Press Releases of the Site of the Congress dated 27-July-2018.
- Press and Public Affairs Bureau