Disaster preparedness tops first Cabinet meeting

MANILA, Philippines - Disaster preparedness was the first item tackled in the first official Cabinet meeting of the Duterte administration in Malacañang yesterday.

But even before the presentation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), President Duterte cited the need to pre-position equipment in disaster-prone areas to enable the government to provide aid to affected residents.

“The resources must be on deck, positioned nearby. If you can draw the path of the typhoon and deploy the assets of government, you need to bring clean water and food that do not need to be cooked,” Duterte said.

Duterte recalled his experiences during the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, which left more than 6,000 people dead in 2013. He said he was informed by the Army that the typhoon had uprooted trees, destroyed several houses and left tens of thousands of people dead.

“I couldn’t believe it. So that evening I mobilized the 911 of Davao City, assembled 10 doctors and nurses and provided them antibiotics, tetanus, all of the things that the victims of a calamity need,” Duterte said.

“We traveled by helicopter. But in Tacloban, I did not see even a single rubber boat of the Navy,” he added.

Duterte said he was “bewildered” by the lack of access to clean water in typhoon-ravaged areas.

“I was holding a plastic bottle. A soldier told me ‘mayor, do you still have water?’ I knew the problem then. They needed water and food that do not need to be cooked,” he added.

Duterte clarified that he was not condemning anybody when he relayed his experiences in typhoon-hit areas.

Duterte instructed NDRRMC executive director Ricardo Jalad to make sure that there are government assets that can deliver relief goods to calamity-struck areas.

“We should learn from that experience,” Jalad said, referring to Typhoon Yolanda.

Duterte also proposed the creation of a Department of Overseas Workers to protect the interest and welfare of Filipinos working abroad.

Issues affecting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are currently handled by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which are attached to the Department of Labor and Employment.

“I want a one-stop shop of sorts. I do not want to see the Filipino queueing, lining up. They should be given stubs that contain the date they go back to pick up their documents and signed by the receiving clerk,” Duterte said.

The one-stop center, he added, should have the booths of offices that normally have something to do with overseas employment, including the National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Philippine National Police and the National Statistics Office.

“They (OFWs) should not have the problem of spending so much. They should be able to process (documents) in one sweep,” the President added.

He pointed out that many OFWs are burdened because they travel from one government agency to another to secure the documents necessary for their work abroad.

“They ride to here, they ride to there and nothing happens. They should be able to get all the necessary documents in one building,” Duterte added. – With Giovanni Nilles