ILOILO City – This southern city represented by Mayor Jerry Treñas shared its strategies and successful best practices at a national colloquium on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM).
During the National Resilience Council (NRC) 2020 virtual colloquium on Oct. 30, Treñas shared DRRM programs which could serve as models for other local government units.
“Various crises tested our steadfastness here in Iloilo City, but our unwavering persistence and preparedness always equip us. I am glad that the NRC became an instrument of our endeavor,” Treñas said.
Iloilo City was among the cities, along with Cagayan de Oro, Iriga, Muntinlupa, Naga, Ormoc, and Zamboanga, and Bataan province to highlight their initiatives.
October last year, Iloilo City was cited as most resilient highly-urbanized city in the Philippines by the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index.
It was also a finalist in the Gawad KALASAG for Best Highly-Urbanized City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council last February this year.
Treñas said even in the fight against coronavirus pandemic, Iloilo City stays on top of the situation.
He believes that challenging times like this are opportunities for the city to make itself more resilient.
He added that Ilonggos do their own share so the city government could sustain its initiatives in helping those who are severely-affected.
“It is only when our people trust us enough that they start to support the system. Without our constituents’ support, we can accomplish nothing,” Treñas said.
The NRC 2020 Colloquium was an opportunity for local chief executives and their respective local Resilience Councils to report on their accomplishments and milestones relative to resilience-building and share a narrative of their personal leadership journeys.
The event marked the transition of NRC’s local government partners from the program’s Year 1 “Prepare” to Year 2 “Adapt” phases.
NRC engages local government units in the Philippines in making climate and disaster resilience their priority.
The works focused on building dynamic multi-stakeholder collaboration through the following: development of science and technology-based solutions that reduce disaster risk; enhancing internal capacities of local governments to lead through evidence-informed risk governance; and strengthening and sustaining high-level collaboration between government and industry.
One of the ways by which these are achieved is through NRC’s flagship “Resilient Local Government Units Program” which aims to bridge critical gaps between science, policy, and practice.
This three-year two-track “Leadership and Governance and Science and Technology” program, which was cited as one of Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments’ good practices, highlights the “Prepare, Adapt, and Transform” phases of resilience-building through trans-disciplinary knowledge development and co-ownership and co-creation of contextualized solutions to resilience challenges.
NRC is a science and technology-based public-private partnership that supports government, communities, academe, and private sector in advancing intersecting goals of Sendai Framework for DRR, Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Climate Agreement, New Urban Agenda, and UNDRR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign./PN
