TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) — To bring their appeal to get their hazard pay due to the risky work they are rendering to communities, the local association of disaster and risk reduction management officers (LDRRMO) in Bohol urged supporters to join them in their Resilience Run and Unity Ride set on July 15.
This is according to Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management (PDRRM) officer Dr. Anthony Damalerio, who is also the PDRRM Council action officer and head of Bohol’s premier disaster and medical rescue team, Tarsier 117.
“Beginning at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, the Bohol Association of Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Officers (BALDRREMO) is holding and disaster workers are joining in the Resilience Run at the old airport and a Unity Ride later,“ Damalerio said during the recent Kapihan sa PIA on the PDRRM activities for the Disaster Resilience Month in July.
Later in the day, the town disaster and rescue workers would be joining the Bohol Unity Ride, parading their rescue and response assets in a show of force for the Senate to reconsider and act on the shelved version of the Magna Carta for Disaster Workers.
It may be recalled that the House of Representatives has passed House Bill 7778 or the Magna Carta of Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Workers, while the Senate has yet to pass their version of the act.
In the House version of the Magna Carta for DRRM workers, the country intends to uphold the individual rights to life and property by addressing the root causes of vulnerability to disasters.
It also calls on local government units and communities to work for disaster and risk reduction and management by building community resilience against disasters and even the effects of climate change.
To do this, the country relies on public disaster officers who work for disaster prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation and recovery.
These could be civilians engaged in permanent or temporary positions if their actual line of work involves the performance of the said functions.
In these tasks, DRM members may be exposed to low-risk and high-risk disaster risk reduction management functions that endanger their lives in search and rescue, retrieval and management of the dead and the missing, quick damage needs assessment, post disaster needs assessment, and pandemic response operations.
“If health workers can get their hazard pay, I think disaster workers also deserve that,” Damalerio said during the radio forum streamed live over the PIA Bohol Facebook page and DyTR on Friday afternoon.
In holding the event, Damalerio said they want the move to get a bit of traction for the Senate version, while he expects the town DRRMs to bring their position papers so these could be consolidated for the national government to look into. (RAHC/PIA Bohol)
