Philippine Navy schedules 5th Leg of Leadership Governance Forum

BY: LCOL EDGARD A AREVALO PN(M)
Director, Naval Public Affairs Office

With the advent of the rainy season the Philippine Navy has gone a long way in preparing for any possible unforeseen calamities. With this the Command had scheduled the conduct of the 5th Leg of the Philippine Navy Governance Forum Series 2010, to be held this Friday, June 18, 2010 at eight thirty in the morning at the Philippine Navy Officers Club, Main Dining Hall, Naval Station Jose Francisco, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

The Philippine Navy invited Mr. David Michael V Padua, Director of the Naga College Foundation’s Typhoon Preparedness Center to share his insights, experience, and expertise on the topic “Typhoon Preparedness In Disaster Risk Governance”. Mr. Padua is a typhoon specialist and the developer of Typhoon 2000, the first web portal for tropical cyclones in the Philippines. He was a recipient of the Naga City Special Mayoral Award and the Citation of Heroism in recognition to his expertise and services rendered in his community.

This forum will be led and attended by RADM DANILO M CORTEZ AFP, Flag Officer In Command, PN along with other Philippine Navy senior leaders, selected middle grade and junior PN officers, enlisted personnel and civilian employee, as well as invited guests from other major services. The PN officers and personnel will also tackle the over-all preparedness in times of calamities during the forum.

The forum will be broadcast live to all six (6) naval forces in the country from Luzon to Mindanao via the Virtual Private Network (VPN). The VPN will also allow officers and personnel from said units to interact with the speaker. During disasters and calamities, naval forces would be able to give a blow-by-blow account of situations in their respective areas and request for rescue teams when needed.

In correlation with disaster preparedness, the Command had undertaken the Disaster Emergency Assistance and Rescue Training (DEART) from March 13, 2010 to June 16, 2010. This undertaking prepared residents to act and respond immediately in times of exigencies. About seventy (70) volunteers from Forbes Park Association Residents and Security Personnel were trained by personnel from Naval Reserve Center-National Capital Region based in Navotas City. This trained individual will form part of our Naval Reservist that will augment our regular components whenever their services is needed.

Taking our experience on the onslaught of Typhoons “Ondoy and Pepeng” in 2009. The Philippine Navy had strengthened its disaster response preparedness and capabilities by training and equipping our personnel, with the additions of our Disaster Response Operations (DRO) Trailers with equipments necessary for search, rescue and relief operations. With this your Philippine Navy will always a dependable partner in an unforeseen situation and ready to respond anytime.