Philippines: Tuguegarao City organizes disaster management council

Tuguegarao City - In compliance with the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, City Mayor Delfin Telan Ting recently issued executive order number 3 organizing the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC).

In the executive order, the CDRRMC will be composed of the city mayor as the chairman and all departments, Liga ng mga Barangay, Sangguninag Panglungsod representative, Red Cross, four civil society organizations and private sector as members.

The City mayor stressed that the council must ensure the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into local development plans, programs and budgets as a strategy in sustainable development and poverty reduction, and recommends also the implementation of forced or preemptive evacuation of local residents.

Ting likewise said the council will approve, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the local disaster plan and it must also conduct an annual review and test in order to come up with a plan which is consistent with the national and local planning programs.

Tuguegarao city is one of the most vulnerable areas in the whole of Cagayan Valley region during wet season because it is mapped as a flood prone area and a catch basin of the waters from the different tributaries in the mountains surrounding the region.

Yearly, the city’s constituents, especially the farmers and those living near the river bank, suffer so much due to flashfloods.

With the creation of the council that will plan and implement the mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation aspect in times of disaster, the mayor believes that the people of the city will not be at risk always during disasters.

The council is also set to plan for the establishment of a disaster management office.