Order of Malta

A training course for Disaster Preparedness Management and Mitigation was conducted by the Order of Malta Philippines at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City from January 14-17, 2010. It was conducted by Malteser International, the Order of Malta Worldwide Relief Arm.

There were 26 participants from Diocesan Social Action Centers of Baguio, Bicol Region, Samar, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Pangasinan, National Disaster Coordinating Council representatives, as well as private organizations and corporations with programs for disaster response. The speakers were Mr. Stephan Huppertz, Deputy Head of Asia Department, Senior Desk Officer of Myanmar, and Dr. Melgabal Capistrano, CBDRR Coordinator of Myanmar/Regional Adviser CBDRR. Hospitaller Doña Odelia Arroyo formally opened the seminar after an invocation by Rev. Msgr. U. Lo, Magistral Chaplain of the Order.

The field workshop went to the Malta assisted typhoon community in Muntinlupa. Seminar participants were asked to interview, assess, plan, and plot mitigation and interventions as learned from three days of intensive teaching.

The last day was a lecture on community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) by Dr. Capistrano, followed by a talk by Mr. Huppertz on project management cycles and logical frameworks or logframe. The last workshop project was then presented to the participants. The Order of Malta Philippines President, Don Ernest Ernesto B. Rufino, and Hospitaller Doña Odelia G. Arroyo with Mr. Stephan Huppertz for Malteser International, presented certificates of attendance to the 26 participants.