SENATOR Loren Legarda yesterday underscored the urgency of incorporating disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in the national development planning.

Speaking at the Multisectoral Consultation to Enhance the DRR and CCA Content of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP). she urged the government to ensure that amid the impact of recurring natural hazards, the country’s socio-economic gains are preserved and development goals are still within reach.

Disaster mitigation makes good economic sense, said Legarda, chairperson of the Senate committee on climate change. "We have to pursue genuine development—development that is sustainable and economic growth that is resilient,” she said.

She said that PDP should serve as an instrument for policy coherence in the national government and a guidepost for local action for the sustainable and resilient development. "We must integrate DRR and CCA into our national development planning, budgeting, financial management and public sector governance,” Legarda said.

“Let us ensure that the PDP strongly communicates the call for more and better investments in DRR and CCA such as flood control, forest management, hazard and risk identification, mapping and assessment, research and development, preparedness, and risk financing,” she said.

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) estimated that in 2011 the government lost over  P59 billion worth of direct and indirect investment to typhoons, floods and landslides. The amount also included damages caused by natural calamities to public infrastructures.

“With each disaster, money from the government coffers is diverted to relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation," Legarda said.

"Billions in government money, which ought to have been spent on reducing poverty, providing universal primary education, and improving health for women and children, are instead spent for supporting affected families in evacuation centers, re-building the lives of the most vulnerable, re-constructing houses and critical infrastructure, among other post-disaster efforts,” she said.