Cebu disaster response office inaugurated

Local

WHAT was once a quarantine facility during the pandemic

now stands ready to fight disasters.

The Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) officially inaugurated its renovated command center in Sitio Groto, Barangay Apas, on Friday, Jan. 9.

Governor Pamela Baricuatro led the ribbon-cutting ceremony with PDRRMO head Dennis Pastor and other key provincial officials.

Pastor said the facility was originally built in 2019 under former Governor Hilario Davide III as an evacuation center and briefly served as a quarantine site for about a month during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The facility had been flagged by the Commission on Audit as idle infrastructure,” he said during a press conference after the blessing ceremony.

The Cebu Provincial Government spent P9 million to renovate the two-story command center, a two-story dormitory, training facilities, and comfort rooms.

Renovation work began in October 2025 and finished in January 2026.

The command center now occupies 10 hectares within a 57-hectare province-owned property.

The PDRRMO became a full-fledged provincial department in September 2025.

Pastor said reinstating the office addresses long-standing limitations, including inadequate infrastructure, equipment, and personnel.

When he assumed office on July 1, the office had only three responders—far below the minimum 21 needed for effective disaster response.

Provincial Board Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, who sponsored the measure to restore PDRRMO as a department, said the move is timely given Cebu’s vulnerability to disasters, including an average of nine typhoons annually in the Visayas.

“At the start of the Sanggunian, I was already planning to sponsor the reinstitution of the PDRRMO,” he said.

He added that the department’s reinstatement will allow the hiring of technical experts and deployment of specialized responders.

The office plans to establish three organized response teams, each with seven members, and responders will soon be covered by insurance.(MyTVCebu)