STA. MARIA, Davao Occidental (PIA) - Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go urged the people to scale up their resiliency amid the bad weather condition that the country experiences every now and then.

Speaking to the residents of Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental on Friday (Nov. 25), Sen. Go called on the people to be resilient since they could hardly control nature.

He said the country is geographically closed to earthquakes and typhoons. 

“We could not control nature, especially that our country is situated in the ring of fire and typhoons,” stated Sen. Go who is chair of the committees on health and sports development.

He said the government is still pushing for the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience which he authored through Senate Bill No. 205 in 2019. The agency is meant to focus on disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and response, and recovery and building forward better.

Sen. Go revealed that this agency will be secretary-led, and will particularly ensure the evacuation of the people to safer grounds, guarantee coordinated responses, and restoration of people’s lives to normalcy.

He said there must be a mandatory evacuation center to avoid using the classrooms which are purposely intended for children’s education.

For the municipality of Sta. Maria, the Senator bared that a super rural health center will be created to help the people in their medical needs.

“It’s a rural health center full of services for ordinary residents,” he said.

Sen. Go visited Sta. Maria with Senator Robin Padilla and actor Philip Salvador.

They distributed food packs, bicycles, sports balls, wheelchairs, and shoes to the residents victimized by the flood brought about by the heavy downpour on November 17.

Sta. Maria was one of the areas severely hit by the flood. The other badly-affected town was Malalag in Davao del Sur. (PIA XI/Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)