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(nea eA eee IL fier
Terence was hired by the local government unit of Kalibo
as its first Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Officer
(MDRRMO) in 2012. He was already working with the
municipal government of Kalibo as a Community Affairs
Officer concerned with information technology service,
public information, community affairs and running a
community radio station. During emergencies, all he
could do was to report what was happening on the
ground. During those times, the staff of the Community
Affairs Office were already thinking that the tasks of
reporters should not be limited to simply reporting. The
concern to be of service prompted Terence to apply for
the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
(MDRRM) officer post.
Applying for the MDRRMO post was a natural step for him
to take so that his work would have more impact on
people being affected by disasters. From 2012, Terence
has stayed as Kalibo's MORRM Officer despite many
challenges faced by the office. “It is more of the passion”
he says, “the commitment to be of service” that he
continues to be an MDRRMO.
The commitment to
ela
It was also in 2012 that Terence was first introduced to the
Philippine Red Cross (PRC) through a Community-Based
Disaster Risk Reduction Management (CBDRRM) project.
There was no turning back for Terence since. He has
become an ardent CBDRM practitioner and advocate.
Now, Terence is proud to say that he has seen a lot of
“firsts” in the development of disaster risk management in
the Municipality of Kalibo. He was the first in the whole of
Panay to become an MDRRM Officer holding a
permanent position. The Kalibo Operations Center was
the first emergency operations center established in their
region. Kalibo is also the Department of Interior and Local
Government's demonstration area when it comes to
volunteer service programs. Further, the MORRM Office of
Kalibo was the first to implement CBDRM in Panay.
Terence is also proud to have led the first-ever earthquake
and flood drills in Panay in their Bakhaw-Norte Project. To
cap it all, in 2016, the local government unit (LGU) of
Kalibo won the Gawad Kalasag at the Regional level
All these are a product of the combined efforts of the
LGU, MDRRM Office, their volunteers, and their partners,
says Terence.In 2008, Typhoon Frank (international name Fengshen)
lashed at Western Visayas and caught many unprepared.
Approximately four million people were affected
throughout the country. More than 81,000 houses were
totally destroyed and a further 326,321 houses seriously
damaged. Around two million people were affected on
Panay Island, the area worst hit by the typhoon.
Typhoon Frank recorded the worst flooding in Kalibo.
Many thought that Typhoon Frank and the floods it
triggered was a fluke, not likely to happen again in the
next ten years.
However, in 2012, Aklan was hit again by Typhoon
‘Quedan (Fitow), and in 2013 by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)
but Kalibo was better prepared for Yolanda. There were
no reported casualties but only cases of injuries, and
that's what Terence attributes to the...various
preparedness and response systems that were already in
place with their MDRRM Office. Typhoon Frank in
particular was devastating for Kalibo and this prompted
the municipality to strive to do better.
TYPHOON FRANK
DEFINED US
paragraph—During Typhoon Yoland, Terence was not in
Kalibo but he was communicating and coordinating with
his staff through social media. Since emergency
preparedness systems were already in place, Terence and
his team were able to prepare the municipality for the fury
of the typhoon. Evacuations were implemented day
before, the activated Incident Command System (ICS)
functioned well, highly motivated staff were on hand,
volunteers were available and very helpful, rescue teams
were mobilized and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) was
always there especially for the medical and relief services.
Coordination of various efforts made the difference,
according to Terence.
For Terence, Typhoon Frank defined the direction of their
DRM program because it was seen correctly as a portent
of things to come, as subsequent events confirmed.
Subsequent disaster events showed that typhoons that
cause unusually very serious flooding are no longer just
10-year return period events. Actions taken since typhoon
Frank have also shown the LGU that community-based
disaster risk management (CBDRM) is a strategy or
approach appropriate to Kalibo’s disaster preparedness
work. They also realized that their LGU can better
overcome the huge challenges posed by major disasters
if they work with partners they can depend on.In 2012, PRC Aklan Chapter proposed a partnership with
the Kalibo LGU through a five-year community-based
disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) project of the PRC and
the Finnish Red Cross. The CBDRR project entitled
“Empowering communities and local government
units implementing inclusive development
programs in the Philippines” has the overall objective of
contributing to a common local development agenda for
building disaster resilient communities in the Philippines.
Its specific objective was to improve the responsiveness
and transparency of LGUs by ensuring participatory and
transparent processes for disaster risk reduction (DRR)
and development.
One of the Project's expected results was “to build the
capacities, roles and representatives of the Philippine Red
Cross (PRC) and Community Based Organizations (CBO),
contributing to empower community members, to train
LGU representatives and to build partnerships and
networks between them.” Several trainings and
workshops were organized to strengthen the capacity of
municipal and barangay (village) LGUs. This opened the
opportunity for Terrence and his deputy to participate ina
Climate Change Adaptation workshop in 2014,
Vulnerability and capacity assessment (VCA) was also
undertaken as part of the project and the information
gathered had been used by the Kalibo Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management Council (ORRMC) for
identifying the needs and priorities of high-risk
communities
Other training and workshops on various themes such as
understanding the provisions of the DRRM Act or RA
10121 and mainstreaming DRR and climate change
nos i CBDRM
adaptation, as well as planning and learning sessions
were conducted throughout the project's five-year
implementation, These capacity-building activities
developed the municiality’s DRM consciousness, more
especially with Terence and his staff. Through the project,
Terence had the opportunity to share Kalibo's DRR
practice in a conference on volunteerism in a Korea
International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) jointly
sponsored conference in Seoul, South Korea in 2016.
Partnership-building became a natural outcome in the
course of implementing the CBDRR project. Being the
MDRRM Officer of Kalibo, his acquired knowledge was
shared by providing technical support to the PRC
project's implementation. Eventually, Terence became a
Red Cross volunteer and a resource person. PRC likewise
tapped him as one of the Project's facilitators. Project
facilitators, as designed by the Project, are volunteers
coming from the LGUs, NGOs, and the chapter officers.
They are a pool of volunteers who undergo trainings on
various project themes. They will eventually help in
training community disseminators (PRC volunteers).
Community trainings were carried out by the project to
build the capacities of local LGUs and the communities in
general. Terence was a frequent trainor and resource
person in the communities covered by the project.
Through these activities, the process of building the link
between barangay and municipal levels became much
easier and better. Partnership between the Kalibo MLGU
and PRC facilitated in strengthening the municipal local
government unit and barangay relations.|
Terence thinks that addressing the risks and problems of a
growing Kalibo would require more funds, more services
and more preparedness measures. He thinks that Kalibo is
not yet resilient but has already reached an adequate level
of preparedness. He admits, however, that there is so
much more to be done. For him, a resilient Kalibo means
having at least 50% of its population becoming DRR
advocates and disaster preparedness practitioners. He
hopes that at least one individual per family is trained on
DRR. He envisions that the challenges his municipality is
facing can be overcome by developing DRR champions
Who are passionate, disciplined and can effect change. He
has witnessed communities who became active because
there were DRM advocates or champions. For him, it is
important that the Punong Barangay (village chief), or at
least, some Kagawad (village council members), would
become champions so that the work continues despite
changes in leadership.
The greater challenge is not the lack of funds but how to
change people's attitudes. Positive attitudes towards
active participation in community drills for example,
having emergency kits always on hand, and making
preparedness a way of life, according to Terrence, are
more difficult to cultivate.
He further advices that every LGU needs to seize every
opportunity to partner with more organizations such as
the PRC as a strategy to reach more communities. “It is
beneficial for MDRRMOs to work with the Red Cross,
especially in getting the involvement of communities and
getting them on your side to do DRR,” he said. The LGU
of Kalibo learned from this partnership and has since then
been engaging in different forms of partnership with other
organizations and with volunteers from Japan and
Australia. “Partnerships matter. Partners help expand our
knowledge of doing disaster risk management. They
provide the skills we are not capable of doing such as
organizing communities,” he added. The kind of DRM they
embraced was influenced and shaped by the PRC's
CBDRRM framework.
Now, they are applying what they learned from PRC in
other communities,
Looking towards the future, he sees the continuing
partnership between their LGU and PRC, and describing it
as ‘a partnership to serve others." Becoming an
MDRRMO has helped him fulfill his advocacy of managing
and helping people especially during emergencies. Being
a PRC volunteer and a project facilitator is fulfilling with the
same advocacy of sharing the risk reduction knowledge
and strengthening capacities of communities affected by
disasters. It is a way of fulfiling his passion to help others,
of
Partners help expand
our knowledge
of doing ae
disaster management.