Manila, Philippines — Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has filed at the House of Representatives Resolution 535 calling for 2020 be declared as ‘Disaster and Climate Emergency Awareness Year.’

Salceda said the said bill is a call for continued and intensified national awareness on the threat of ever-increasing natural calamities.

According to Salceda, the Philippines has suffered a lot when it comes to disasters so it needs a “whole government and a whole nation policy response.”

Salceda, current chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee noted the Philippines has been devastated by the recent hurricanes or typhoons one after another.

The Typhoon Reming in 2006, Ondoy and Peping in 2009, Yolanda in 2013 leaving more than 6,000 dead, while Paul and Sendong ravaged Mindanao; and Urduja, Vinta, Rosita and Usman in 2017-2018; and El Nino and highland fires in 2015-2016 have accordingly wasted billions of pesos in agricultural wealth. (Cate Pallarco/IAMIGO/CNS)