Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

‘SIXTEENTH CONGRESS Se i
Second Regular Session

house Biino._ 5278

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie”Castelo

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) alone is reported to have damaged P1.04 billion worth of crops
and farmlands in Bicol, Western and Eastern Visayas, 55,850 hectares of farmlands and 56,090
metric tons of crops, infrastructure damage, cost of damage to livestock sector of P809,550,
other agrisishery infrastructure and equipment of P29.993 million excluding damage to
government and private properties. Some 456,386 families or 2,086,562 people were affected
and 371,846 families or 1,699,041 individuals are staying in several evacuation centers or with
relatives.

Natural disasters such as typhoons, storm surges, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions are
bound to happen in significant frequency as would necessitate a more definitive, purposive, and
planned course of action on the part of the government, at national, regional and local levels. It
is already an incontrovertible geo-political given that the Philippines is the most hit country in the
world in terms of tropical cyclones, heavy rains and storms, tsunamis, and the like.

Typhoon Yolanda, for another, a category five typhoon that struck central Philippines in
November 2013, inflicted severe damage on the social and economic fabric of the Visayas and
the MIMAROPA region. The typhoon displaced 4.1 million people and destroyed over half a
million houses. Around 8,000 people died or are still missing. The loss of capital and assets,
and disruption in electricity and irrigation services, have led to the collapse of local economies in
the severely affected areas.

These unfortunate events and their outcomes and consequences now call for the
creation of a Department of Disaster Management given the country's ongoing vulnerability to a
string of disasters as it stands in the path of yearly number of typhoons and tropical cyclones.
The Philippines has historically suffered from a high rate of natural disasters, but climate change
is giving rise to even more frequent and more forceful weather-related disasters. Severe storms
have now become the “new normal.”

It is important to note that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan
(NDRRMP) fulfills the requirement of RA No. 10121 of 2010, which provides the legal basis for
policies, plans and programs to deal with disasters. The NORRMP covers four thematic areas,
namely, (1) Disaster Prevention and Mitigation; (2) Disaster Preparedness; (3) Disaster
Response; and (4) Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery, which correspond to the structure of



the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). By law, the Office
of Civil Defense formulates and implements the NDRRMP and ensures that the physical
framework, social, economic and environmental plans of communities, cities, municipalities and
provinces are consistent with such plan.

The NORRMP is consistent with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Framework (NDRRMF), which serves as “the principal guide to disaster risk reduction and
management (DRRM) efforts to the country..." The Framework envisions a country of ‘safer,
adaptive and disaster resilient Filipino communities toward sustainable development.” It
conveys a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive DRRM wherein men and women have
increased their awareness and understanding of DRRM, with the end in view of increasing
people's resilience and decreasing their vulnerabilities.

In the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan 2011-2028, the
NDRRMP sets down the expected outcomes, outputs, key activities, indicators, idad agencies,
implementing partners and timelines under each of tHe four distinct yet mutually reinforcing
thematic areas. In other words, there is hereby estabjished from this institutional/arrangement
the now proposed Department of Disaster Managemeyt, hence this submission.

It is all in this light that this humble measure|is most earnestly sought for deliberative
passage.

NIE” CASTELO


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Second Regular Session

House BILL No._5278

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie”Castelo

AN ACT
CREATING THE DEPARTMENT OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT AS DISTINCT AND
SEPARATE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

Be it enacted in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines
in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the ‘Department of Disaster Management Act
of 2014”.

SEC. 2. The present Office of Civil Defense and/or National Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Council are hereby created to be known as the Department of Disaster
Management, with distinct and separate mandate from the Department of National Defense to
carry out safer, adaptive and disaster resilient Filipino communities towards sustainable
development along the four thematic areas, namely: disaster preparedness, disaster response,
disaster prevention and mitigation, and disaster rehabilitation and recovery

SEC. 3. As Office of Primary Responsil (OPR), the herein created Department of
Disaster Management shall issue appropriate rules, regulations, guidelines, and issuances to
effectively carry out the implementation of this Act.

SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect upon thirty (30) day after its publication in the Official
Gazette and in at least three (3) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,