Government officials and leaders from the private sector held a one-day forum in observance of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, to promote disaster risk resiliency in the Philippines.
In celebration of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, ARISE Philippines Local Network held a forum entitled “BUILD TO LAST: Risk-informed Investment” at the Auditorium of the Mall of Asia Arena Annex (MAAX) Building, MOA Complex, Pasay City, Philippines on October 15. 2019. The forum was attended by hundreds of participants from the private sector, academe including college students and government agencies.
Department of Public Works and Highways Undersecretary, Dr. Catalina Cabral shared the Philippine government’s plans regarding road widening initiatives, logistics improvement, and construction of bridges during her keynote speech. She also announced that under President Duterte’s Administration, continuous efforts to build a resilient Philippines are underway. Aside from road networks, other projects under resilience include Rain Water Collection System and Bridges Seismic Improvement.
Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr., Undersecretary for Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Change Adaptation of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) shared the agency’s innovation, “Hazard Hunter PH”. “This is a single platform for assessment of hazards related to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hydro-meteorological events. This is especially helpful to property owners and developers. The Hazard Hunter PH produces a hazard Assessment report that summarizes, explains, and recommends the potential hazards seen in a specific area,” said Solidum.
Other speakers were Dr. Elisea Gozun, former Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and former Presidential Assistant on Climate Change, who talked about attaining water security by building for resiliency; Engr. Ronaldo Ison, President of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines Inc. (ASEP) who talked about resilience and the Philippines’ building code, highlighting Philippine seismicity and the zone maps that can guide developers when building infrastructures; Gen. Carlito Romero, former Chief of Bureau of Fire on the updates about the Revised IRR of the Fire Code of the Philippines; Arch. Fides Hsu on SM Malls Disaster Resilient Designs; Mr. Raymond Remoquillo of NCSI Philippines on the Future of Buildings and Property Management.
ARISE Philippines, through Engr. Liza B. Silerio, presented its report and encouraged the students to be more engaged in DRR initiatives, to contribute in the attainment of the Sendai Framework Goals. ARISE member companies like the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), represented by its President Butch Meily, gave updates on their disaster response efforts and the various PDRF Resilience Training and Education Curriculum. Malu Erni, National Resilience Council (NRC)’s Executive Director, on the other hand, shared the NRC’s Resilience Framework with a whole-of-society and multi-stakeholder approach towards disaster resiliency and its recently launched Adopt-a-City Program.
ARISE Philippines is a UN-recognized body of organizations from the private sector, united in its mission of achieving disaster risk resiliency, by developing programs and platform to achieve such goals. SM Prime Holdings, led by the Chairman of the Executive Committee, Hans Sy, serves as the Philippine Network Secretariat.
