CFE-DM, AFP CGSC Partner for HADR Course
09.22.2016
CAMP AGUINALDO, Philippines – The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM), in partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff College (AFP CGSC), conducted a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response course in Manila Sept. 9-14, 2016.
Eight CFE-DM experts assisted the AFP CGSC faculty in educating over 160 AFP and international lieutenant colonels and commanders. The course challenged the students to plan humanitarian assistance operations as part of a joint task force responding to a major Metropolitan Manila earthquake.
Subject matter experts from local and regional disaster management organizations, humanitarian organizations, ASEAN, the Pacific Disaster Center, and Third Marine Expeditionary Brigade supported the Center's efforts to prepare future AFP leaders.
Major General Rodolfo Santiago, the Commandant of the Staff College, thanked the CFE-DM staff “for their investment of time and expertise to educate his students.”
At the course conclusion, Colonel Ramil Bitong, the AFP CGSC Chief of Staff, stated, “I wish I had the opportunity to learn and practice interagency operations before my experiences as a commander following a recent earthquake.” Additionally, Colonel Bitong saw the HADR course “as a means to mainstream HADR knowledge and share experiences before the next disaster occurs.”
The success generated by this pilot course is the result of two years cooperation between the educational institutions and will be the model for future CFE-DM engagements with regional allies and partners. Based on the effectiveness of this collaboration, CFE-DM will support the Staff College's 2017 Interagency Course, the next Metropolitan Manila Joint Interagency Multi-Sectoral Exercise, and humanitarian assistance training for the AFP unified command staffs.
Students of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff College’s (AFP CGSC) humanitarian assistance and disaster response module develop a response plan during a metro Manila earthquake scenario on Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines, Sept. 14. The module is the first of its kind to be including in the nine-month course and represents two years of coordination between the AFP CGSC and the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.
Prof. Ciejay Calara, director for the interagency module for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff College (AFP CGSC), and Mara Langevin, a disaster management and humanitarian assistance advisor for the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, discuss the schedule of the AFP CGSC’s first-ever humanitarian assistance and disaster response module, Sept. 12 on Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines.
(From left) Col. Ramil Bitong, chief of staff for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff College (AFP CGSC), presents Dante Mercado, Rod Macalintal, Beth Kunce-Wagner, Adrian Duaine, Mara Langevin and Jim Welsh, of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM), with gifts of appreciation during the closing ceremony of the first-ever humanitarian assistance and disaster response module at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff College on Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines, Sept. 14. The module is the first of its kind to be including in the nine-month course and represents two years of coordination between the AFP CGSC and CFE-DM.