In a bid to fast track the government’s recovery and rehabilitation programs in typhoon-ravaged areas, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has ordered the creation of Regional Build Back Batter Task Forces (RTFBBBs), which will be chaired by the 16 DENR regional executive directors within their respective jurisdictions.
The move was pursuant to Cimatu’s mandate as chair of the Task Force Build Back Better (TFBBB) under Executive Order 120 issued by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on November 18, 2020, to expedite and lead the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery program for typhoon-ravaged areas.
“The creation of RTFBBB is in response to the intention of EO 120 for government entities to work with a clear unity of command and in a sustained and cohesive form in relation to current and future post-typhoon recovery and rehabilitation efforts,” Cimatu said at the DENR Expanded Executive Committee Conference on January 18.
The national TFBBB is co-chaired by the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways with 26 national government agencies as its members tasked to assist the task force.
The DENR heads the Intensified Environment and Natural Resources Management, which is one of the six key result areas (KRAs) of TFBBB.
Other TFBBB KRAs include Better and Resilient Infrastructure headed by DPWH; Stronger Shelter and Resilient Settlement (Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development); Improved Systems and Essential Services (Department of National Defense-Office of Civil Defense); Restored Sustainable Livelihood (Department of Trade and Industry); and Strengthened Governance through Broad-Based Citizen (Department of Interior and Local Government).
In DENR Special Order (SO) No. 2022-32 he signed on January 17, Cimatu provided the mechanism by which the RTFBBBs will “organize and convene” in coordination with the RTFBBB-member line government agencies “as may be applicable.”
The DENR chief said the creation of the RTFBBB draws inspiration and lessons learned from the success made in the first three focus areas of TFBBB in rehabilitating the Marikina, Cagayan and Bicol river basins after they were ravaged by typhoons Rolly and Ulysses in 2020.
Some of the RTFBBB’s tasks are to identify rehabilitation and recovery measures in typhoon-affected areas and formulation of the KRA implementation plans, budgetary requirements, and funding proposal for the areas in their respective regions.
Identified as a priority for the implementation of the order are areas that bore the brunt of Typhoon Odette in December 2021.
“Beginning with those hardly-hit by Typhoon Odette, the DENR regional executive directors for Caraga, Regions 6, 7, 8, 10, and MIMAROPA as chairpersons of the Regional TFBBB in their respective regions shall, in coordination with the concerned regional line agencies and local government units, conduct damage assessment and identify appropriate interventions for recovery and rehabilitation,” Cimatu said.
DENR Undersecretary and TFBBB Secretariat head Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh said Cimatu’s order underscores the urgency for a clear mechanism on how to have a “total response” at the regional level based on the mandate of EO 120, including the need to strengthen the link between the national and local levels to efficiently respond to the demands and realities in typhoon’s post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation phase as shown in Odette’s aftermath.
With the mechanisms in place, RTFBBB can link directly with concerned TFBBB member national agencies “in case their regional members are not responsive” through the concerned DENR undersecretaries and assistant secretaries who have been designated as focal persons responsible for coordination with the concerned agencies as head of each of the six TFBBB KRAs concerned lead as per DENR SO 2020-470. ###
