DRRM – Maniolas

The private sector has been commended both locally and internationally for its support for the rehabilitation of areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda, but it is moving to take disaster response a step further.

Members of the private sector, including GMA Network, worked together to create disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) training modules for the private sector in a writeshop conducted in Tagaytay by the Office of Civil Defense and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Feb. 6 and 7.

The writeshop was conducted in compliance with the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act, which lays down how the public and private sectors can collaborate and cooperate in responding to and preventing disaster.

Harmonizing with other industries and public sector

“[The Philippine DRRM Act of 2010] already lays an excellent foundation for cooperation and collaboration between public and private sectors to reduce and manage disaster risks,” said Dr. Benito Pacheco, Vice Chancellor of Research and Development of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and the writeshop’s main facilitator.

“What we need next is a new ‘symphony orchestra mode’ of conducting, by which the private company players can blend in better among themselves, and together with public agencies.”

Two sets of DRRM training modules were written: One for executives and another for mid-level managers.

Those modules will then be used for a three-hour chief executive officers’ meeting to reach major decisions on how industries will respond to disasters.

A separate three-day mid-level managers’ workshop will soon follow for discussions on how the DRRM plans will be operationalized.

The standardized core training modules for the private sector are meant to integrate with modules written for government agencies.

Other participants in the write shop were Manila Water, the Energy Development Corp., Smart Communications, Inc., Salinas Corp., Philippine Airlines, DHL Philippines, The Medical City, Glocke Security, the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism, SM Supermalls, and Rappler.

GMA’s role in disasters

Even before the move to standardize the role of the private sector in DRRM, the GMA Network has been doing its share in times of disaster through the IMReady Public Service Group.

“Without the media, the critical information from the Office of Civil Defense, from the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, PAGASA, will never reach the people,” said Carlos Primo David, GMA’s IMReady Overall Head.

“We’ve actually become bigger than delivering news. We’ve gone beyond it,” said Senior Program Manager Antonio Magsumbol, who also represented GMA Network during the writeshop.

The media, for some time, acted as the only means of communication with towns wrecked by Typhoon Yolanda.

GMA News gave typhoon victims a chance to send out their messages to their family and friends via the “Panawagan Mula sa Leyte” livestream.

Letters from typhoon victims in Tacloban were also relayed by network reporters and were posted on GMA News Online.

The GMA Kapuso Foundation also conducted telethons and donation drives for the victims and their relatives.

The IMReady Portal, which will relay information from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Transportation and Communications, Metro Manila Development Authority, Metro Rail Transit, and Philippine National Railways, will be launched this month.

“To me, we’re not just preachers but doers,” Magsumbol said. — JDS, GMA News