MANILA— Government needs to mainstream disaster resilience in its programs as a proposed Department of Disaster Resilience "cannot duplicate" the expertise of certain state agencies, disaster council chief Ricardo Jalad said Tuesday.

Jalad had previously said putting disaster prevention, mitigation, response, rehabilitation, and recovery in one department would be "very overwhelming."

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"Can the government afford to house all those mandates in one department?" he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo. "Sa pagkakaroon ng Department of Disaster Resilience magkakaroon ng expectation na sa kaniya lahat ito, mahihirapan tayo mag-capacitate ng isang departamento na nasa kaniya lahat."

(When you make a Department of Disaster Resilience there's an expectation it will hold all these responsibilities. We will struggle to capacitate a department with all functions.)

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"'Yung pag-attain ng disaster resilience kailangan i-mainstream natin 'yung disaster risk reduction and management doon sa mga development processes and programs natin."

(Attaining disaster resilience should be done by mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and management in our development processes and programs.)

Jalad cited the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council's function which was to make policies, coordinate, collaborate, and monitor agencies' disaster programs.

"'Yung expertise ng pag-develop ng programs na 'yun ay nasa kaniya-kaniyang ahensiya. The DDR cannot duplicate those expertise and competence eh," he said.

(The expertise in developing these programs lies in various agencies.)

"'Yung isang organisasyon na nasa gitna niyan ay maaaring coordinator or orchestrator ng specific area sa disaster risk reduction and management. Hindi niya kaya saklawin lahat dahil marami dun mandato ng iba't ibang ahensiya."

(The organization at the center of it may be the coordinator or orchestrator ng specific area sa disaster risk reduction and management. It cannot encompass all functions because many are mandates of different agencies.)

Several senators on Monday opposed the proposal to create the DDR, saying existing state agencies were already performing its mandate.

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The House of Representatives in September approved on final reading a measure that would create the proposed department.

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