LGU Disaster Risk Management and Preparedness in the City of Pasig: The

Implementation of Pasig City Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project

An Undergraduate Thesis Proposal Submitted to the

Faculty of Political Science Department
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Far Eastern University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree

of Bachelor of Arts Major in Political Science

Submitted by:

Bautista, Jairabel P.

Salatan, Damsel G.

Tejada, Christine E.

DECEMBER 2020
 CHAPTER I

Introduction

The Philippines is one of the top countries in the world to experience the most natural

disasters. Filipinos has been used to anticipating multiple typhoons, the flooding and

landslides that comes with it, and the occasional earthquakes throughout the year. This only

proves that all communities are at grave risk of disasters, health hazards, and emergencies.

According to Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), the Philippines experience an

average of 20 typhoons per year, this is since it lies along the typhoon belt in the Pacific. It is

also situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire which makes it prone to volcanic eruptions as well

as earthquakes. ADRC is an organization that works on building disaster resiliency of its 31

member countries with the help of Australia, France, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the US,

the five advisor countries of ADRC. According to United Nations Office for the Coordination

of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), more than seven million Filipinos suffered natural

hazards and conflict. Those people who live in poverty and the adverse socio-economic

conditions are highly vulnerable to the disasters. However, the vulnerable sectors include the

sick, poor, and people with disabilities, older people, also women and children.

The protection and security of houses, properties, and the life of every human

individual, during a disaster, must be given utmost attention by the national and local

government. This study will serve as a wake-up call to the other community and officials to

formulate or improved necessary disaster management measures to reduce the vulnerability

in risk reduction, risk recovery, relief and rehabilitation plan and the like. In addition, the

vigilance of the public regarding disaster management preparedness and other related
measures to protect their rights are the main concerns of the researcher because this will

warrant saving and protecting life, property and conserving properly the natural environments

(Robas, 2014).

Reducing the impact of consequences of disasters and health threats are important

roles that both local and national government must fulfill. That is why it is important for both

to have sound disaster and risk management plans in place. These meteorological,

geophysical, and hydrological disasters is already difficult for Filipinos to deal with;

however, in 2019 the situation was further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic punishing

not just our country but the rest of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent strong

typhoons that the Filipinos have experienced made known and highlighted the long-standing

problems on how our government handles the aftermath of emergencies as well as the

ineffectual response to the pandemic and calamities. For these reasons, we chose to study

how well-prepared Pasig City is in their actual response to disasters such as calamities as well

as the pandemic. Even before the breath of fresh air administration of “Vico” Sotto in Pasig,

the city is already a leading local government in terms of initiatives and innovations of their

disaster risk reduction programs. Through a partnership with EMI (Earthquake and

Megacities Initiatives), a non-for-profit international scientific organization, from June 2011

to September 2012, Pasig city was able to establish and developed a five-year (2017-2022)

disaster risk reduction and management plan for managing earthquakes and floods (EMI,

2011). In 2015, Pasig City rolled out a vision to enhance their adaptive capacity to reduce

their vulnerability against natural disasters. The city acquired the services of EMI and Certeza

for the Disaster Resiliency Project of Pasig City. The city updated their Satellite Map, Hazard

and GIS map, together with elevations and building footprints study focused on earthquake
and flood resiliency. They name the output of this collaboration: City Risk Atlas (Angeles,

2015).

The Disaster Resiliency Project of Pasic City included structural flood mitigation by

building and repairing a total of twenty-six pumping stations, dikes, and reservoir. They also

institutionalized through city ordinance their contingency plans: Multi-hazard seminars and

drills ordinance to all schools, hospitals, and high-rise Force Evacuation. Pre-evacuation

ordinance is in place, anchored with Pasig City DRRM plan. The Pasig City Disaster and

Risk Management Plan for years 2017-2022 was approved by Pasig DRRM Council in

February 2016 (Angeles, 2015).

The city also created a mobile application for reporting of citizens GPS tag location,

which made it easier for rescuers to locate stranded citizens. They also upgraded to modern

rescue equipment and vehicles such as search cameras, acoustic listening tools, thermal

cameras, rescue tender, aerial ladder, tanker, pumper, hazmat engines, and river boat units.

They also showcased a regularly stocked emergency relief storage, field hospital tents, and

mobile shower trailers. Pasig City is also the first Local Government Unit to run a disaster

preparedness training institution. (Angeles, 2015).

Background of the Study

People living in poverty and in poor socio-economic situations are particularly prone

to natural disasters. The poor, the disabled, people with special needs, the elderly, women and

children are the most vulnerable classes. These industries would have the disadvantages: - to

recover from the future hazards, even if many individuals may be affected (Robas, 2014).
The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable and disaster-prone countries in the world as it

lies along both the typhoon belt and the Pacific ring of fire (Domingo & Manejar, 2018) in

terms of typhoons, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, because of its natural setting,

as well as its socio-economic, political, and environmental context (Luna, 2002). Carr (1932)

stated that “a disaster is defined by human beings and not by nature.” He noted that “not

every windstorm, earth‐tremor, or rush of water is a catastrophe.” If there are no serious

injuries of deaths and other serious losses, then “there is no disaster”.

In 2009, The Philippines was severely affected of Typhoon Ondoy and several of the

cities and provinces, such as the flooding of Pasig City, one of the highly developed cities in

Metro Manila, were about eight meters or eight hundred centimeters high. During this

typhoon, the Pasig City government sustained tremendous damage in infrastructures:

buildings (P11,800,000,000- US$3B); Roads/drainages (P1,500,000,000-US $36B);

Government buildings schools, health centers, playgrounds (P800,000,000 or US$20 B);

Government vehicles, equipment and facilities (P14, 609, 791or US$3.5M); not included

were the many innocent people who died during the catastrophe” (Porio, 2011). The affected

areas of the Southwest Monsoon in the Local Government of Pasig are twenty-four barangays

(24), seven thousand one hundred and fifty (7,150) families or thirty-three thousand two

hundred and eighty (33,280) individuals (NDRRMC, 2012). After experiencing extreme

disasters, Pasig City created a project “The Pasig City Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods

Project” that developed a disaster risk reduction and management plan for managing the

earthquake and flood risks of the city through the support and involvement of the various

local stakeholders. According to Pasig City’s former Mayor Bobby Eusebio “Pasig City has

never stopped its proactive efforts in improving and innovating programs, activities, projects,

and systems on disaster risk reduction (DRR) related programs” (Lozada, 2014).
 In 2011, the start of the decade, the Philippines experienced a total number of 33

natural disasters: floods, landslides, typhoons, volcanic eruption and earthquake. This

includes the deadly tropical cyclone Sendong which caused 1,439 deaths, making it as the

deadliest typhoon worldwide in 2011. The series of natural disasters in 2011 caused a total of

1,780 deaths and affected 9.5 million victims (Guha-Sapir et al., 2011). A joint research of

Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and UN Office for Disaster

Risk Reduction (UNDRR) tallied a total of 304 disasters in the Philippines from year 2000-

2019, making the country the 5th most disaster hit of the decade. According to the Center for

Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, in 2018, the Philippines is second in terms of the

greatest number of people affected by natural disasters which tallies up to 6,490,216 affected

people (Guha-Sapir. 2018).

Additionally, The City of Pasig created a Comprehensive Land Use Plan that

identified the existing flood situation and listed the current status of creeks within the city.

The status of seventeen creeks reveals one reason for the flood on the last typhoon Ondoy of

September 2009 and Habagat of August 2012. Most of the creeks were dried-up, silted or

totally lost due to infrastructures built within, such as houses by squatters or illegal settlers,

commercial establishments etc. the development of the city paved way to look for vacant

place that shall be utilized for industrial, business or houses occupation. Hence, since the city

is highly urbanized vacant area for commercial consumptions are very limited. As result,

water ways were converted and sacrifice (Robas, 2014).

The events of natural disasters and its devastating impact highlight the need for

improvement and augmentation in disaster preparedness. One way of reducing the magnitude
of the impact of disasters is to prepare for them. While there are several frameworks and

paradigms that guide developing countries in dealing and responding to natural disasters, it is

a critical factor that local government preparations is grounded and integrated to these

standards. As established, to reduce or mitigate the devastating impact of disasters, there

should be a sound plan and preparations for it. Just this year, February of 2020, the now Pasig

City Mayor “Vico” Sotto signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a disaster

response deal, with Office of Civil Defense Cagayan Valley Director Dante Balao. The

agreement outlines preparations for deploying disaster responders from cities and

municipalities in Cagayan Valley to Pasig City in case the “Big One” happens. Pasig is the

first city in Metro Manila to sign a disaster response agreement with its assigned partner

region (Gotinga, 2020).

Statement of the Problem

The aim of this study is to determine the disaster risk resilience of the City of Pasig in

the implementation of Pasig City Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project. Specifically,

the study sought answers to the following sub problems:

1. How does Pasig City provide quality of service in the establishment of Pasig City

Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project, in terms of the following:

1.1. mitigating the risks of impact of natural disasters on its citizens

1.2

1.3
2. How does the LGU of Pasig City perceive the resilience of the local government officials

of Pasig City despite being hit of natural disasters;

3. How did the LGU of Pasig City come up with plans and provide the needs of their

residents before, during, and after disasters; and

4. How did Pasig City prepare their response to disasters, like the pandemic (biological

disaster), earthquake (geophysical disaster), typhoon (meteorological disaster), and flood

(hydrological disaster)?

Significance of the Study

The utmost objective of this study undertaken aims to discover and have an in-depth

understanding of the resilience and preparedness of the Local Government of the City of

Pasig by utilizing the Pasig City Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project. This paper

will help the residents of Pasig and organizational researchers in terms of the following:

National Government – this is significant for national politics, since not only at the local

level, but also at the national level, the phenomenon of disaster risk management can also be

a determinant;

Local Government – this is significant for local politics, due to the phenomenon that occurred

at the local level, which is the City of Pasig. The study may be able to provide information

for research studies;

Local Government Officials – the significance of the research participants is that the

respondents are in authority when the catastrophe phenomenon occurs. The respondents will

analyze the values and initiatives performed in the project concerned;

Scholars/Researchers – The study results will provide future researchers with sufficient data

on the conduct of new studies that could further develop the phenomenon in other fields. This

research will benefit them in objectively deciphering disaster risk management and how it

can be applied in other locations as a guide to new studies.

Nevertheless, the findings of this study will help set a benchmark at how the

government, specifically the local governments, should prepare and respond to natural

disasters. It will also highlight the improvements that should be done and incorporated in the

current disaster and risk management plans of local government units in the Philippines, as

they are the most accessible to the people it is imperative that their response to emergencies is

appropriate, efficient, and of highest quality. The Philippines suffered and still is suffering the

consequences of the lack of sound preparations for disasters. The typhoons, earthquakes,

floods, and now the health threat of the pandemic are reasons why it is relevant to study the

disaster response preparedness of a local government unit such as Pasig City.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of disaster risk resilience in this context is delimited to the City of Pasig

only. Specifically, we delimited the sectors covering the City of Pasig in Pasig City

Resilience to Earthquakes and Floods Project such as the Pasig City Disaster Risk Reduction

and Management Office, National Housing Authority (NHA), and Flood Control & Sabo

Engineering Center (FCSEC-DPWH) and the residents of the Pasig City.

Additionally, this study will focus on Pasig City’s disaster and risk management

preparedness. The study will be limited to natural disasters that is common in the Philippines
and is in current disaster and risk management plans of Pasig City. United Nations defined

natural disaster as a serious disruption of the operation of a community or society. Natural

disasters are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused by slow or gradual onset of

events that have instant effect on health and secondary impacts that cause death and

suffering. These disasters can be geophysical, hydrological, climatological, meteorological,

and biological. Using the United Nations’ definition and classification of natural disaster, we

only wish to explore Pasig City’s preparedness in terms of geophysical, hydrological,

meteorological, and biological natural disasters.

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