Exploring Partnerships In Calatagan

Volunteer Collaborators Lyndon Del Rosario, AJ Villar and Wally Panganiban trooped to Calatagan in the Province of Batangas last Friday (March 12) to meet with community stakeholders of the municipality and explore possible engagement opportunities on building resilience. 

The Resilient.PH Team met with Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Ronald A. Torres, together with Brgy. Capt. Marlon Praxedes (Barangay 4), Brgy. Capt. Pacifico Atienza (Bagong Silang), Barangay Capt. Roberto Zapatero (Lucsuhin), Brgy. Capt. Ruel Medina (Carlega), Brgy. Capt. Ernesto Verroya (Gulod) and ABC President,  Brgy. Capt. Charito Pineda (Balibago).

The meeting, hosted by the Enrique Zobel Foundation through its executive director, Jose Rodriguez, Jr., was also attended by Municipal Planning and Development Office OIC Ram Laderas, Municipal Environmental and Natural Resources Head Ma. Evelyn Custodio, and DTI Calatagan Head Reynante Amareta. 

Sir Lito introduced the team and explained the purpose of the meeting. AJ then walked the participants through the presentation starting with an overview of Resilient.PH highlighting recent and future projects. Then she shared definitions of key resilience terms to align everybody’s understanding.  Lyndon and Wally followed with a general overview of the Resilience Roadmapping for LGU initiative and how the project can help the community chart its way forward with stakeholders co-owning disaster management and co-creating solutions to build disaster resilience.

“We are very thankful for this opportunity to meet with the stakeholders of Calatagan. We had a very interesting exchange and we are excited to meet with them again to plot our next steps,” said AJ.