Dino pushes ‘brotherhood’ among Visayas regions
Visayas exec visits Eastern Visayas, sees need for an inter-region program
AS the country observes the National Disaster Consciousness Month, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino challenged the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) 7 and other volunteer groups in the region to become “a big brother” to other provinces in the Visayas.
After his three-day trip to the Provinces of Samar, Leyte and Tacloban to check on poor communities, Dino said he saw how the areas need the help of other provinces like Cebu.
“It is in this juncture that I enlist your help and join me in embarking on a mission, a mission that will make Cebu great. This mission is about making us ready not only on our own backyard, minding only our own self when a calamity visits us. This mission is about you, about Cebu’s disaster risk reduction managers, the OCD 7, the Cebuanos and the people in Region 7 to become a big brother to our brethren in Region 8,” Dino said in a speech.
Dino was the guest speaker during the culmination activity of the National Disaster Consciousness Month yesterday.
“I appeal to you. Please help me establish an inter-region, inter-operability program of our OCDs and risk reduction management officers between Region 7 and 8,” he said.
Dino said the provinces in Region 8 have personnel trained to respond but they are not yet fully equipped.
Dino said that he visited Samar because it was the in- struction of President Rodrigo Duterte to help the place even if the latter lost in Samar during the last elections.
Infra projects
Dino told Sun.Star Cebu that most of the communities in Region 8 also need infrastructure projects like farm-tomarket roads to help its residents, who are mostly farmers, to easily deliver their produce to the lowland.
He assured the communities from the three provinces that the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas is always open to provide them with assistance.
“Our office will be there because I personally saw the state of life there and it made me sad. It was a sad trip, see- ing all of their problems,” Dino told Sun.Star Cebu.
OCD 7 Director Olive Luces said her office is willing to respond to the request of Dino.
Luces said that together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the set-up of interoperability in terms of disaster response between the regions in the Visayas has been worked on.
“We are willing, in fact, we already initiated a workshop regarding inter-operability of the government offices, including the military and to craft a standard operating procedure on the matter,” Luces said.
She said the OCD 7 continues to upgrade the capacity of their responders as well as other regions so they can respond to each other.