BONTOC, Mountain Province – Recognizing the importance of coordination and interoperability among concerned agencies in times of all-hazard incident management, the communication and response flow among Response Clusters, barangay officials, and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was reiterated during the First Quarter meeting of Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) on February 20, 2024.
Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer (LDRRMO) II Mei Shalom Ayan of the Municipal DRRM Office presented the communication and response flow of which the impact site of any incident happens in the barangay or the community. Some of these incidents being responded to are Vehicular Traffic Accident, fire, drowning, found cadaver, missing person, landslide, and flooding. Based on the R.A. 10121, barangay officials are the primary responders during calamities or disasters since they are the authorities closest to ground zero.
Thus, the concerned barangay local government units are to report the incident to the Response Cluster.
She explained that what usually happens is that the first receiver of information about an incident is the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Municipal Health Office, MDRRMO, Bontoc Emergency Response Team (BERT), and the Philippine Red Cross-Mountain Province Chapter. As part of her presentation, she relayed the corresponding functions of the said Response Clusters. It was reiterated that any agency or Response Cluster as the receiver of information must coordinate with the EOC. The Incident Commander has to report or provide an update about the incident to the EOC. The EOC through the EOC Manager has to report and provide updates of the incident to the Local Chief Executive as the Responsible Official. The EOC is the centralized location of emergency response and recovery support operations during incidents. While tactical on-scene operations are conducted from the Incident Command Post, the EOC supports and helps coordinate ICP operations and any other adjacent incident operations. The EOC and the Responsible Officials have also the power to coordinate with the Provincial LGU and higher offices or agencies for support and assistance.
MDRRM Officer Johanna Padaen explained that the communication and response flow among Response Clusters, barangay officials, and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was presented in the meeting to clarify the different roles and responsibilities of concerned offices, agencies and partner stakeholders.
This is also for the newly elected barangay officials to be apprised of what to do should an incident occur in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
She added that the Municipality of Bontoc through its MDRRMC is putting into practice the Incident Command System (ICS) in responding to any incident.
ICS is a standardized on-site management system designed to enable effective, efficient incident management by integrating a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure. It is a standardized hierarchical structure that allows for a cooperative response by multiple agencies.
Bontoc Mayor Jerome “Chagsen” Tudlong, Jr., supported the pronouncement of Padaen adding that the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters and calamities call for an efficient and coordinated disaster response and management mechanism from the barangay level to the higher authority to prevent the loss of lives and properties and ensure the safety of the communities. This is also to ensure proper coordination among concerned agencies and response clusters, deployment of manpower, and utilization of logistics.
As an immediate intervention, the Bontoc LGU through the MDRRMO in partnership with the Office of the Civil Defense –Cordillera Administrative Region (OCD-CAR) will spearhead the conduct of an Incident Command System Executive Course to elected barangay officials.
Also, both Mayor Tudlong and Padaen made a call to barangay officials to beef up their respective disaster preparedness and mitigation measures.
Padaen explained that barangays should channel 5% of their funds for their disaster risk reduction and management programs. She explained that 30% of this fund can be used as a quick response fund while 70% of it can be used for mitigation and prevention, preparedness and rehabilitation programs.
Padaen added that their office along with other concerned offices at the Bontoc LGU is more than willing to assist the BLGUs in the preparation of their respective Barangay Budgets.
It is to be noted that for the previous years, personnel from the Office of the Municipal Budget Officer, Office of the Municipal Treasurer, Office of the Municipal Accountant, Municipal Planning and Development Office (MPDO), MDRRMO, the Department of the Interior and Local Government through Municipal Local Government Operations Officer Lourdes Claire Peel has been going around the barangays to conduct budget orientations.
With this, Mayor Tudlong advised the barangays to focus also on preparedness, prevention and mitigation programs since this could lessen the negative impact of disasters including procurement of rescue and emergency response equipment. By Alpine L. Killa-Malwagay