Use of calamity funds for disaster-preparedness urged

"Local Government Units (LGUs) should be allowed to use emergency funds "before typhoons and other calamities strike, and not only when they have already wrought damage to life and property."

Former Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado pointed this out in dialogues with local officials in Naga and Legaspi Cities, noting that under the law, up to five percent of the budgets of LGUs are automatically set aside as calamity funds.

Mercado said, "the only way for us to adequately mitigate the effects of both man-made and natural calamities is for us to prepare for them."

"The law should be amended to authorize governors and mayors to use part of their calamity funds for disaster-preparedness activities like emergency-response training, acquisition of specialized equipment like amphibious trucks and rescue equipment, and the purchase and pre-positioning of relief goods and medical supplies," Mercado said.

The former senator, who served two terms from 1987 to 1998, also headed the National Disaster Coordinating Council during his two-and-half-year stint as Secretary of National Defense.

Mercado said "while there should be no short cuts in the strict audit and accounting of calamity funds, we should enable our LGUs to become better-prepared for emergencies.’

He noted that even the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH) have adopted the practice of pre-positioning their relief supplies so these can be dispatched faster to calamity-stricken areas.

"We can serve our people better by properly utilizing calamity funds to prepare for emergencies and not when the difficulties are already upon us," Mercado said.

He said this is why the NDCC and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) have also focused more intensely on disaster-preparedness activities that include cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and other first aid training, rescue techniques and the organization of community-level civil defense quick reaction teams.