This is not the time to politicize humanitarian aid and development work. While Citizens’ Disaster Response Center Foundation, Inc. (CDRC) and fellow development workers are tirelessly conducting emergency response operations and delivering aid to Mindanao Earthquakes Survivors and in close coordination with government line agencies on the ground, the state military forces have their hands full on publicly maligning the reputation of legal and independent local and international non-government institutions that have been working on disaster preparedness, risk reduction, emergency response, and recovery and rehabilitation nationwide for several decades.
CNN Philippines published early today a presentation of Major General Reuben Basiao, AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, called “AFP Modernization”. With gross negligence for legal repercussions, AFP showed a list legal non-government institutions that are maliciously dubbed as “front organizations of CPP”. In the absence of a legal evidence and due process, AFP included CDRC and its network of NGOs in the regions, ICRED, CVDRC, ABI, TABI, LCDE, and MISFI in the list. CDRC condemns the smear campaign through “red-tagging” that has put humanitarian and development workers in grave danger of being harassed by state forces while delivering aid to disaster-stricken communities.
This offense is not an isolated case among NGO workers who work for communities with least access to basic social services. In light of political repression and shrinking space for civil society organizations, CDRC continues its humanitarian and development work and will always complement the government’s efforts for a shared responsibility to deliver social services and development programs to communities.
CDRC celebrates its 35th year of humanitarian and development work in the Philippines. In his congratulatory message, Usec. Ricardo Jalad of the OCD-NDRRMC has expressed its support for CDRC’s work and collaboration efforts with the government. CDRC is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a non-profit, non-stock social development agency. It is licensed and accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to implement relief, rehabilitation, preparedness and mitigation programs in Regions I-XII, CAR, CARAGA, NIR, and NCR. Established in 1984, CDRC has pioneered and continues to promote community-based disaster management in the Philippines.
CDRC operates nationwide through a network of regional centers (CDRN). It focuses its assistance to the most affected, least served and most vulnerable areas and sectors of the populace. Since then, CDRC has been responding to minor and major emergencies and has helped millions of families. Other than directly implementing DRRM projects, CDRC also co-implements projects with the RCs and provides support for their DRRM institutional capacities such as project management, research and documentation of effective DRR-CCA practices, collection and management of data from the network, and development of CBDM module.
Strategically located in 16 hazard-prone regions of the Philippines, the RCs are in the best position to provide context-specific, comprehensive, and timely data for proactive risk reduction initiatives and early action. RCs develop hazard maps and community risk assessments with the community members and local government units. RCs also effectively communicate their localized DRRM knowledge in communities through their Disaster Preparedness Committees (DPCs) formed over decades of community development work across the country. ###