The Policies, Practices and Politics of Dealing with Disasters An Analysis of How Disaster Risk Reduction Policies and Actions are Framed in the Philippines

This paper utilized frame analysis in trying to understand the politics of disaster governance in the Philippines. It sought to answer this research question, “How far does the framing of DRRM policies and its use influence the politics of disaster governance in the Philippines? I argue that the Philippines despite adhering to a comprehensive national disaster risk reduction and management policy that promotes a proactive stance towards disasters, reverts back to its reactive approach because within the domain of disaster governance, exists two conflicting frames. To answer the question, a review of national disaster management structures, related laws and policies were revisited with the view that organizational/ institutional structures influence a group of actors’ manner of framing policy problems and actions towards it. Therefore, the Philippines’ bias towards the hazard frame, is largely due to its disaster management measure being highly associated with a top-down approach that is present in military set-ups. The hazard frame has been the dominant frame in the Philippine disaster management story, however, a conflicting frame, the vulnerability frame, was introduced by the global paradigm shifts prioritizing disaster risk reduction. What are implications if there are two conflicting disaster management frames? This paper explores the policies, practices and politics of dealing with disasters.