DSWD Organizes ABSNET Capability Building in Region VII

Reylie B. (center with certificate) , PSEFI Admin Assistant

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region VII organized a three-day seminar for the members of the Area-Based Standard Network (ABSNET), an organization of DSWD-registered and licensed non-government organizations (NGOs) held last November 16-18, 2016 Wed-Fri, at Golden Peak Hotel, Cebu City.

PSEFI-SKILLS was represented by Ms. Reylie Liza M. Bracero, Administrative Assistant of the Tech-Voc Department. She was with other representatives from the members of ABSNET here in Cebu like Little Bamboo Foundation, Inc., Bukas Palad Social Center, Vicsal Foundation, Inc., IDEA Philippines, Inc., Pagtambayayong Foundation, Inc., Holy Trinity Poverty Alleviation Foundation, Inc. and My Bonita Home for Girls, Inc. to name a few. There were also some representatives of NGOs from Bohol province.

During a workshop session

The program started with Ms. Josephine C. Belotindos, SWO IV of DSWD discussing the rationale,
objectives and training norms to follow for the whole duration of the seminar, followed by Ms. Jennifer Abastillas, Social Welfare Officer II, who talked about the DSWD Guidelines on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) System and facilitated the topic on Family Assessment in the Wake of Disasters.

On the second day, Engr. Ver Neil Balaba, Assistant Director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) talked further about the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System and mapped out action plans with the participants. On the last day, Mr. Dennis Atto, Operations Officer of the OCD, gave a lecture on Building an Emergency Evacuation Plan. He also presented a DRRM Preparedness Plan. Some directors of the respective NGOs who participated, including Dr. Maritess H. Requina, PSEFI-SKILLS Executive Director, graced some sessions on the last day.

Some salient points gathered from the training are the following:

The participants of ABSNET Capability Building Seminar

The Basic Principles of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Law, Republic Act 10121, seek
to prioritize the most vulnerable communities or areas to natural and human-induced hazards. It also seeks to strengthen local capacities, address the root causes of disasters, ensure greater participation from civil society, and conduct an assessment/review after five (5) years of effectivity.

For safer, adaptive and resilient communities to march towards sustainable development, four (4) thematic areas need to be strengthened: disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster preparedness, disaster response, disaster rehabilitation and recovery. It was discussed that a Quick Response Team in every organization needs to be established and strengthened, where the youth should play an active role in. It was noted that in previous disasters, children represent 1/3 of the victims. The government hopes that if young people are given enough resources and opportunities, they can become good promoters for a safer community. Also, direct involvement in DRRM will give the youth a better sense of community and civic consciousness. The level of readiness that communities need to establish would depend on identifying the hazard, vulnerability and capacity of their respective communities in specific locations.


It is with hope that all the stakeholders who were present in this training seminar will be able to echo all the salient points they learned and thus, equip their respective organizations with the knowledge and skills they need when calamities threaten to catch us off-guard.

The training ended with this quote from Steve Cyros which opened the eyes of all the participants, and which could well open ours, "When disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed."