enon (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.