Adopt-A-City Campaign Raises Urgency of PH Disaster Resilience Efforts

Climate change has left the planet vulnerable to the harmful effects of natural calamities. The Philippines is ranked 2nd among the countries that will be most affected by climate change by 2020 (tied with Bangladesh).  Now more than ever, disaster resilience is of the utmost importance to the country.

This was the pronouncement made by National Resilience Council (NRC) president Antonia Yulo Loyzaga during the recent launch of the NRC’s Adopt-A-City campaign. The program is an innovative city-specific partnership model that will link the resources of private sector companies with the Local Government Units (LGUs), academic partners and the communities themselves in transforming their climate and disaster risk landscapes and establishing their resilient LGU systems.

Loyzaga, together with Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City mayor Oscar Moreno, and SM Prime Holdings Inc. chairman of the executive committee Hans Sy, signed a memorandum of understanding to seal the partnership for SM Prime Holdings to become the first private organization to take part in the campaign. 

“Disaster resiliency is not the job of the government alone. It is a job that can be successful on collaboration with the government. The government sector alone can succeed only if both the private sector and the government will work together,” said SM Prime chairman of the executive committee Hans Sy.

“CDO was a victim of a typhoon that had debunked the long-held theory that Mindanao is typhoon free. We had thousands of casualties, not including those that are missing, so this program indeed is very important,” said CDO mayor Oscar Moreno.

“The Adopt-A-City campaign is most timely because it focuses our efforts on precisely the drivers of our national economy, which are located in your cities. Cities are also among the chief generators of emissions because, in fact, the industry that is driving the metabolism of cities is what actually feeds the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere,” said NRC president Yulo Loyzaga.

In addition to Cagayan de Oro City, SM has pledged to support the cities of Naga (Bicol) and Iriga, investing in the reduction of these cities’ old and new disaster risks and helping them immediately recover after possible disasters or unforeseen events.

SM has also been involved in other sustainability projects such as recycling their water and installing catchment basins in their malls to avoid flooding.

For more information on how to adopt a city, visit the National Resilience Council website (https://resiliencecouncil.ph/) for more info. To know more about ARISE Philippines, you may contact its secretariat via email (arisephilippines@smprime.com) or check out https://cc.preventionweb.net/arise/asia_pacific/arise_philippines.

ARISE Philippines Kickstarts New Round of Disaster Resilience Network Initiatives

Representatives from both public and private sectors, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and the SM Group, convened recently for the annual ARISE General Meeting held at the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City.

ARISE Philippines is a network of private companies that are united under the common objective of establishing innovative disaster resilience practices within organizations. This initiative supports the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), and the Sendai Framework. Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding agreement which recognizes the role of UN member countries to reduce disaster risk, and which should be shared with other stakeholders including local governments and the private sector.

Through their membership with ARISE Philippines, companies from the private sector are enabled to build their own capacity and develop strategies in making their organizations resilient to disaster risk, by learning from subject matter experts and engaging in workshops that discuss best practices. In recent studies, the Philippines have been globally ranked as the third most vulnerable country, in terms of disaster and calamity.

The government sector was represented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).

Director Susan Juangco delivered message from Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, Executive Director of NDRRMC, “As private organizations begin to understand their roles in disaster risk reduction management, and actively collaborating with the public, the government’s vision for a disaster resilient nation is coming to its reality. We are here not to boost the self-interests of our organizations, but to attain our goal for our stakeholders and assure quality of life beyond disaster.”

Asst. Director of the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development of DTI, Alicia M. Opeña, added, “The MSME sector has a vital role in the welfare of our society as it serves as a proximity market or immediate provider of most goods and services, and we believe that integrating disaster risk reduction initiative in the MSME structures will ensure that businesses can continue to operate their core services even in the occurrence of an adverse situation.”

During the roundtable discussions, participants gained shared understanding of key performance indicators in each of the presented work themes, which are organizational initiatives that respond to preventive measures against disaster, and eventually develop a joint action plan to ensure progress in creating disaster resilient societies. Some of the key topics covered were disaster risk management strategies, education and training and urban risk reduction.

At the annual meeting, the vision of Hans T. Sy was reiterated, “As a member of ARISE, I encourage everyone to promote disaster preparedness and risk resiliency. We must continue to help each other in minimizing property damages and most especially in protecting lives because disaster resilience is everybody’s business”.

To know more about ARISE Philippines, you may contact its secretariat through arisephilippines@smprime.com or https://cc.preventionweb.net/arise/asia_pacific/arise_philippines