Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez pleaded with President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the proposal to establish the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) to be enacted before his term ends next year.
Torres-Gomez also appealed to the Senate to act quickly on the measure passed by the House of Representatives in September 2020.
“In 2020, we experienced how disaster incidences ran their own course regardless of the pandemic. The total damages, just from the string of typhoons in the fourth quarter of last year, reached about P40 billion. We need to raise our game in disaster management and build national resilience by establishing a full-fledged department,” said Torres-Gomez, chairperson ng House Committee on Disaster Resilience.
Lucy Torres-Gomez pointed out that the DDR will ensure that government agencies coordinate quickly and smoothly in developing the system to limit the impact of disasters.
“The DDR has been in the list of priority measures for the past two SONAs. Having the DDR in place ensures that whatever economic gains we achieve would not be at risk of slipping back just because of disaster events, especially as we re-establish our economy post-COVID” the lady solon added.
Now that the rainy season has arrived, Lucy Torres-Gomez said that many more families living in disaster-prone areas are worried whenever there is a storm or heavy rain.
“Let us all act fast to finish legislative deliberations on the proposal so President Duterte can sign it into law before his term ends,” she said.
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