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THOSE seeking public office in the May 2010 elections should include disaster preparedness in their agenda.
During the Kapihan sa PIA press forum last Wednesday, Neil Sanchez, spokesman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council in Central Visayas (RDCC-7), said disaster risk management is among the duties of elected officials, especially those in the local government units.
However, Sanchez pointed out, local chief executives were not serious about disaster control, as shown in RDCC meetings, wherein most chief executives would send a representative in their stead.
?Whenever we call a meeting about disaster risk management or disaster preparedness, nobody buys into it. One time, one local government unit sent a utility worker to represent it,? Sanchez said.
Only after the Luzon area was struck by typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Ramil in a span of a few weeks did local government units take disaster preparedness seriously, Sanchez said.
Virgie Clapano, local government officer of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Cebu City (DILG-Cebu City), noted that a number of local government units were still reluctant to tap their calamity funds.
Clapano said such reluctance was mostly because any unspent amount in the calamity fund before the end of the year was diverted into the general fund, where the money could be diverted to other purposes.
Oscar Tabada, head of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration?s Mactan Island station, said politicians should advocate climate change awareness, and push for minimizing harmful emissions and adoption of clean forms of energy.
