Together We Stand

[ 107 ] tance in times of need as per the AADMER, as in the case of Haiyan. ASEAN is further enhancing its partnership system under the slogan ‘One ASEAN, One Response’ for joint humani- tarian action within and outside the region. AADMER drew from earlier partnership experiences. In 2004, ASEAN members came to the assistance of Indonesia, Thailand and other countries devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami. In 2008 ASEAN partners established a framework to facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar in the wake of cyclone Nargis. The framework was a partnership between the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the United Nations. The Philippines has highlighted humanitarian partnership in the various regional summits and conferences it hosted in recent years, most prominently the Asia-Europe Meeting on DRRM held in Manila in 2014, and during its 2015 chairman- ship of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2015. The Philippines also enjoys close humanitarian partnership with the European Union on a bilateral and organizational basis. The Philippines had enacted important legislation promoting humanitarian partnership and whole-of-society approaches to DRRM and crisis management. The cornerstone humanitarian law of the Philippines is the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) Law of 2010. The NDRRM law recast the national disaster management system to have a more holistic DRRM approach as opposed to focus- ing on response. The centrepiece of the NDRRM system is the NDRRM Council (NDRRMC). The council has broad representation from government ministries and is led by the Department of National Defense. The NDRRMC is divided into mitigation, preparedness, response and reconstruction thematic areas, each shepherded by a department designated as an NDRRMC Vice-Chair. The NDRRMC also provides for sectoral represen- tation from civil society and the private sector. The NDRRMC system in turn is replicated on the local, regional, provincial and city/municipal levels. Multisectoral partnership is also The Project NOAH (top) and FAITH websites Source: Department of Foreign Affairs, the Phillipines T ogether W e S tand