MANILA –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued recently Executive Order No. 634 creating the Bicol Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort Commission (B CARE C) that would address and resolve the decades-long problem of massive flooding in the Bicol region during tropical depressions.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita made the announcement during his regular weekly press briefing last week.
The mandate of B CARE C, according to Ermita, is to integrate relief, rehabilitation, and resettlement, recovery, livelihoods and development efforts in the different areas of the Bicol region particularly affected by typhoons Caloy, Milenyo and Reming.
The President tasked all departments, agencies, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities to extend full assistance and cooperation and provide information and data to the B CARE C.
She also directed the Commission to submit quarterly report to the Congressional oversight committee on the funds allocated for the aid, relief, resettlement, rehabilitation and livelihood services, construction or repair and reconstruction of infrastructure projects being financed, and its accomplishments for the expanded appropriations.
The funding for the administrative and operational expenses of the Commission will be sourced from the Calamity Fund.
EO 634, signed by the President last July 3, will take effect immediately.
The B CARE C was ordered by the Chief Executive to exercise its powers and functions for a period of two years.
It will replace the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) as the clearing house for all claims/requests to ensure that public funds allocated for victims of calamities/disasters would be spent judiciously and effectively through efficient prioritization of programs and consistent monitoring of projects.
Among the salient powers of the B CARE C are the following:
a. To generate proposals from the implementing agencies for relief, rehabilitation, resettlement, recovery, livelihood and development efforts as well as infrastructure support;
b. To work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on hazard mapping for the Bicol region;
c. To work with the Bicol River Basin and Watershed Management Project
Management Office on common or overlapping project activities;
d. To regularly monitor the status of programs, projects and activities in the areas devastated by typhoons Caloy, Milenyo, Reming and Senyang in the region to ensure their prompt and efficient execution;
e. To recommend courses of action to ensure cohesiveness in objectives and coordinated action to improve implementation of rehabilitation, repair and reconstruction works and activities in the said areas;
f. To coordinate and consult with concerned national and local officials, both elective and appointive, as well as accredited non-government organizations (NGO) in the prosecution of programs and projects;
g. To mobilize the assistance and support of any government agency or instrumentality as well as civil society and donor community to address identified gaps and requirements in rehabilitation efforts; and,
h. To formulate policies, plans and programs for relief, rehabilitation, resettlement, recovery, livelihood and development efforts and infrastructure support with regard to CARE funds unallocated to date or funds for a similar purpose that may be allocated in the future.
The Commission will be composed of the chairman of the NDCC, as chairman.
Its members are the Secretaries of the Department of Agriculture (DA),Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the administrator of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), the general manager of the National Housing Authority (NHA), and the chairman of the Region V Development Council.
