COTABATO CITY – To encourage local government units (LGUs) to develop climate change and disaster-preparedness programs, the Department of the Interior and Local Government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DILG-ARMM) conducted a planning workshop on Thursday in Cotabato City.
The regional strategic planning workshop targets to integrate Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in local development planning. Representatives from different civil society organizations, regional line agencies, and the academe participated in the training.
Sharifa Pearlsia Ai-Dans, DILG-ARMM regional assistant secretary, said the one-day training aims at forging partnership between DILG-ARMM and the various stakeholders as well as organize a composite team that will help gather data on disaster risk and climate change situations in various LGUs in the region.
She added the agency wants LGUs to focus on embedding both CCA and DRR into local development plans, to address issues on climate change, and to help “reduce the risk” they might encounter.
Republic Act 10121, or an act strengthening the Philippine disaster risk reduction and management system, mandates LGUs to allocate funds for CCA and DRR programs. This is also underscored in Republic Act 9279, or the climate change act of 2009, and the general welfare clause of the Local Government Code of 1991.
The result of the planning will be presented to 47 pre-identified disaster prone LGUs in the region. Dans urged the LGUs to be supportive of the implementation and mainstreaming of the DRR and CCA into their local development plans since their constituents are the direct beneficiaries of these measures.
Parts of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur in ARMM are within the Mindanao River Basin and have been considered as disaster-prone areas. (Bureau of Public Information)
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