To support the freshly inked PHIVOLCS Modernization Act (Republic Act 12180), a legislator has called for the formation of the Department of Disaster Resilience (DRR), which will act as the government’s disaster operations arm.
In a report by RH 12 Milky Rigonan, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, serving as the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the principal author of the bill creating the DRR, hailed the passage of the Philippine Institution of Volcanology and Seismology Modernization Act as a landmark in the country’s national disaster readiness.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed the act into law last week, on April 24.
The Department of Disaster Resilience (DRR), the bill for which was first introduced during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term and refiled under the current administration, was designed for “leading, managing, and organizing national efforts to prevent and reduce disaster risks; prepare for and respond to disasters; and recover, rehabilitate, and build forward better after the destruction.”
Salceda emphasized the need for an agency responsible for the coordination of disaster responses, as the country has many active volcanoes and more than a hundred seismic faults.
While volcanic events cannot be prevented, the DRR will ensure the country is prepared for such disasters, Salceda added.
The signed modernization act entails upgrades to monitoring networks, expanding regional observatories, the digitalization of a decade’s worth of seismic and volcanic data, as well as the creation of a Geoscience Academy.
