This highly urbanized city has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Resilience Council Foundation, Inc. (NRC) and the Central Philippine University (CPU) to develop initiatives that enhance infrastructure resilience.

The MOU was signed by Mayor Raisa Treñas, CPU President Ernest Howard Dagohoy, and NRC Executive Director Silvestre Barrameda Jr., and witnessed by City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Donna Magno, as well as CPU Vice President for Administration Dany Molona and NRC Board Member Alexander Pama.

The areas of collaboration will cover research initiatives, training and capability building, resource sharing, and monitoring and evaluation.

In her message, Treñas said resilience is an Ilonggo value but the partnership would look into preparing and educating the people to ensure that the city will be safe for all.

“CPU will help in the scientific studies, and our NRC partner, this will make sure that our disaster response and preparedness will ensure that Iloilo City will be a safe city for everyone,” she said.

Pama said the project is one of their big undertakings with the city government to push the resilience agenda of the local government.

“Going beyond the disaster risk reduction, the focus now of the project is to provide support, assistance, and help to the local government units with the aid of other partners as part of the whole-of-society approach, and our approach to resilience,” he said.

Under the agreement, Iloilo City will actively collaborate and coordinate with CPU and NRC in planning, implementation, and monitoring; providing access to relevant local data, statistics, and insights; and extending support in funding, logistics, and technical and human resources, among others.

“The collaboration among these three entities marks a step in the right direction because it entails the development and implementation of programs that will enhance disaster resilience through research, training, capacity building, and policy support,” Dagohoy said. (PNA)