QUEZON CITY, Nov. 21-- President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed on November 18, Executive Order No. 120 creating the Build Back Better Task Force to ensure post disaster rehabilitation and recovery efforts of typhoon-hit areas.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are tasked to jointly lead the the task force beginning with those ravaged by typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.

The "Build Back Better Task Force" is a high-level institutional platform and a more permanent body that will streamline and expedite post-disaster efforts in a sustained and integrated manner, with a clear unity of command.

Members of the task force include the chairperson of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and secretary of Defense; secretaries of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, National Economic and Development Authority, Transportation, Interior and Local Government, Energy, Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Budget and Management, Finance, Education, Health, Social Welfare and Development, Labor and Employment, and Science and Technology; and General Manager of the National Housing Authority.

Administrators of the Land Registration Authority; Local Water Utilities Administration; National Electrification Administration; National Irrigation Administration; Philippine Coconut Authority; and Chair of the Cooperative Development Authority will also be among the members.

The task force shall ensure availability and adequacy of basic needs, medical services, electricity, water, telecommunication, and transportation immediately after a typhoon.

They will also rebuild or repair houses to be more resilient to hazards and build safer sites for housing under the township approach, as well as ensure disaster and client-resilient infrastructures.

Meanwhile, The NDRRMC, with the Office of Civil Defense with its implementing arm, will continue to pursue its mandates in all thematic areas of the DRRM system for other natural and human-induced disasters.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and other uniformed personnel are directed to provide logistical and technical assistance in the rehabilitation and recovery efforts.

Funding of the program will be sourced from existing appropriations of the member-agencies of the task force, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund, and other funding sources. (MTQ-PIA/IDPD)