DISASTER RESPONSE

Through the Cordillera indigenous peoples’ traditional practice of support system (ub-obfo, mabtad, binnadang, innabuyog, gamal, ob-obbo) in times of either man-made or natural calamities and emergency, members of communities mobilize and collectively work for the immediate relief and rescue of victims, rehabilitation of destroyed private or communal properties, search missions for missing people, and other necessary actions deemed necessary by the affected and the rescuing communities. The Cordillera Peoples Alliance promotes this traditional practice of disaster response through its program on socio-economic services that is carried out by the CPA People’s Welfare Commission. The People’s Welfare Commission coordinates services, disaster response and other initiatives through the Serve the People Brigade – Cordillera Disaster Response Network. For instance in 2009, when super typhoon Pepeng hit the Cordillera region, the Serve the People Brigade-Cordillera Disaster Response Network immediately mobilized volunteers and resources and provided relief and rehabilitation services especially to the areas that were not reached by government relief services.