Local Leadership in Disaster Management: The Philippine Setting

Leadership approach can be a crucial factor for climate change adaptation/disaster risk reduction (CCA/DRR). Perhaps, leadership failed during the recent disaster that hit southern Mindanao early in December 2012. Many were killed, injured, gone missing. The "star paper" of Mr. Emil Rex Santos, a master's degree student of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), may offer explanations and provide guideposts for local leaders in CCA/DRR.

Title: "Local Leadership in Disaster Management: The Philippine Setting"

Abstract:

The Philippines, situated in a disaster-prone region and in a highly seismic area along the Pacific Ring of Fire, is visited by at least 20 typhoons a year, and home to 300 volcanoes, 22 of which are active which necessitates the need or adoption of a disaster risk reduction management plan.  Such a plan entails action not just by national leaders, but more importantly by local actors.  The author proposes the utilization of a Disaster Management Cycle that incorporates leadership types that were culled from case studies in the Philippine setting.  He suggests that specific leadership types (i.e. strategic, charismatic, transformational, collaborative, emergent, situational and meta-leadership) be considered in the various phases of a holistic disaster management program at the local level.

To read the paper, e-mail the author at rexsantos95@yahoo.com for a copy or visit the library of UP-NCPAG. 

COP18 Extends the "Life" of Kyoto Protocol

Congratulations to the UNFCCC for the agreements (see PDF copy here) made to renew the life of the Kyoto Protocol. Many will malign your accomplishment, but, it is important to know that there is no perfect international treaty because there will be winners and losers. The road is still long and winding, hence, the UNFCCC and member-countries should keep the lines of communication open, and be open for ideas for improvement.

Philippine Climate Change Negotiator Sheds Tears for Typhoon Victims

"An important backdrop for my delegation is the profound impacts of climate change that we are already confronting. As we sit here, every single hour, even as we vacillate and procrastinate here, the death toll is rising. There is massive and widespread devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered without homes. And the ordeal is far from over, as Typhoon Bopha has regained some strength as it approaches another populated area in the western part of the Philippines. Madam Chair, we have never had a typhoon like Bopha, which has wreaked havoc in a part of the country that has never seen a storm like this in half a century. And heartbreaking tragedies like this is not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities.
Finally, Madam Chair, I speak on behalf of 100 million Filipinos, a quarter of a million of whom are eking out a living working here in Qatar. And I am making an urgent appeal, not as a negotiator, not as a leader of my delegation, but as a Filipino.
I appeal to the whole world, I appeal to leaders from all over the world, to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face. I appeal to ministers. The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people.
I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around. Please, let 2012 be remembered as the year the world found the courage to find the will to take responsibility for the future we want.
I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who ? If not now, then when ? If not here, then where ?"

Philippine Climate Change Commission at COP18 in Doha, Qatar

Despite being a non-emitter, we are ready to do our share- Sec. @lucille_sering #COP18

International Conference Panel "ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND PUBLIC POLICY", June 28, 1-5 p.m., EDSA Shangri-la, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

 UP-NCPAG International Conference

Invitation: Panel 2-A on “ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND PUBLIC POLICY” in the 2012 International Conference on Public Administration (UP-NCPAG@60), 28 June 2012, 1-5 p.m., EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

Chair:    PROF. EBINEZER R. FLORANO, PhD

                Assistant Professor

                University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance

Speakers:

1.       HON. MEL SENEN S. SARMIENTO

Representative, Western Samar, 1^st District,

House of Representatives, Republic of the Philippines

“Best Practices in Climate Change Adaptation”

2.       DEAN ANTONIO G.M. LA VIÑA, JSD

Professor and Dean

Ateneo School of Government,  Ateneo de Manila University

“Issues, Problems and Challenges Related to Climate Change Governance in the Philippines: A Policy Science Approach”

3.       MS. KALAYAAN PULIDO-CONSTANTINO

Oxfam-Philippines

Disaster Risk Financing in the Philippines

4.       DR. ANDREAS LANGE

GIZ Decentralization Program

“Land Use Planning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Philippines: What Can Be Done?”

5.       MR. TITO FORTES

City Climate Change Project Office

Sorsogon City, Philippines

“Climate Change and Local Governance in Sorsogon City”

6.       LT. COL. VLADIMIR T. MATA

Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office

Dagupan City, Philippines

“Coastal Climate Change Adaptation: Case of Dagupan City”

LECTURE: Green Climate Fund by Dr. Sarah Bracking

Title:  Private Equity Funds and the Green Climate Fund:How Successful are Financial Institutions at Delivering Development and Managing Environmental Harm?

Date and Time: 26 June 2012, 2:00-5:00 p.m.

Venue: Case Room or Room 307, National College of Public Administration and Governance, University of the Philippines (CLCD), UP-NCPAG), Diliman, Quezon City

Contact Person:  Mr. Don Jeffery Quebral, Center for Leadership, Citizenship, and Democracy (UP-NCPAG), Tel. No. 925-4109 or 981-8500 local 4158

Lecturer: Dr. Sarah Bracking is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Development at the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, England.

Dr. Bracking attended first York University in the United Kingdom (BA Hons Politics), then Leeds University (MA, International Resources and Development; PhD, Structural Adjustment, Business and the State). She then worked as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Democratisation Studies at Leeds University, principally on the International IDEA State of Democracy Project. She then moved to the University of Manchester where she is currently a Senior Lecturer, teaching “Politics and Development and the Political Economy of Development.” She is editor of Corruption and Development (Palgrave, 2007) and author of Money and Power (Pluto, 2009). . Dr. Bracking is currently completing a book on The Financialisation of Power in Africa.

Her research interests include political economy and political science on African States and markets, and comparative political analysis of democracies and democratization; malign politics, political corruption, authoritarianism and state collapse; poverty and the political economy of impoverishment, dispossession and destitution, and development finance and its relation to the global political economy.       

Reactors: From relevant sectors, i.e., academe, business, government and NGOs

CLRG of UP-NCPAG conducts 2nd Climate Change Adaptation Seminar-Workshop for Local Government Executives

The Center for Local and Regional Governance (CLRG) of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG) conducted its “2^nd Seminar-Workshop for Crafting Climate Change Adaptation Measures and Strategies” on 26-30 March 2012 at UP-NCPAG’s Audio-Visual Room. Nineteen participants from 11 municipalities attended the training program. Topics were about climate change, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, vulnerability assessment, financing adaptation plans, and mainstreaming of climate change to local development plans. At the end of the workshops, they were able to draw hazard maps, identified vulnerable areas and sectors in their municipalities, pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of their local governments to respond to climate change hazards and disasters, and draw up climate change adaptation plans. Speakers came from the Climate Change Commission, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Center for Disaster Preparedness, Department of Finance, Transcend EPCS, Municipality of Opol, and UP-NCPAG. The next training is scheduled in June 2012. Please contact Miss Cely Jamig of CLRG at 928-3914, 925-7422 or her e-mail address (cljamig@yahoo.com)for details or registration. 

(Participants came from the Municipalities of Bangui, Ilocos Norte; Banga, Aklan; Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur; Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay; Mambajao, Camiguin; Maydolong, Eastern Samar; Opol, Misamis Oriental; Orani, Bataan; Quezon, Palawan; Sebaste, Antique; and Tubungan, Iloilo. )