State of Imminent Disaster bill passed in the Philippines

The Senate of the Philippines recently passed the State of Imminent Disaster bill, which seeks to bridge the gap between disaster preparedness and disaster response. Once enacted into law, this will require local government units in the country to include anticipatory action within their regular programmes, plans and activities for disaster risk reduction and management.

The bill was authored and sponsored by Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, who noted how crucial these measures are, particularly since the Philippines is, for the third year in a row, the country with the highest disaster risk, according to the WorldRiskIndex 2024.

The process of declaring a state of imminent disaster

A state of imminent disaster can be officially declared in two ways:

• The president, upon the recommendation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, can make a declaration for a cluster of barangays, municipalities, cities, provinces and regions.
• The local chief executive, upon the recommendation of regional disaster risk reduction management councils, can make a declaration through an executive order in their respective jurisdictions, if these are forecast to be affected by an imminent disaster.

These recommendations are based on pre-disaster risk assessments, made in anticipation of a highly probable disaster with projected catastrophic impacts.

Funding for the actions, including anticipatory actions, will come from local funds for disaster risk reduction and management. Any unused disaster funds can be utilized for anticipatory action, and local government units can also obtain from other sources to fulfil their obligations under the act.

"This landmark legislation... marks a definitive shift from a reactive and passive response toward a more proactive, anticipatory approach in times of calamities," confirmed Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada.