NAMRIA, through its Geomatics Training Center (GTC), and with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), conducted a Basic Geographic Information System (GIS) training for Legazpi City, Albay on 05-09 June 2023. The training participants were composed of a total of 17 middle-level and technical personnel selected by the local government of the city.

 

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was inked between NAMRIA, represented by Usec. Peter N. Tiangco, PhD, and PDRF, represented by PDRF President Rene S. Meily. PDRF is one of the implementing partners for the Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, in consortium with other entities such as Conservation International (CI) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The CRC Project's overall objective is to improve resilience by strengthening the adaptive capacity of the cities to adapt, mitigate, and manage the impacts of climate change and disasters.

 

The training started with the opening remarks of NAMRIA GTC Manager, Dir. Febrina E. Damaso of the NAMRIA Geospatial Information System Management Branch. She spoke about the NAMRIA mandate, introduced the new NAMRIA Audio Visual Presentation (AVP) which was then shown to the participants, and also discussed women empowerment in the NAMRIA workplace. Copies of the NAMRIA GTC Brochure and the Primer on NAMRIA GAD Initiatives were distributed to the participants.

 

The training topics included map appreciation and introduction to GIS, basic map concepts, application of GIS functions in data management, georeferencing, tracing, geoprocessing tools, and hazard spatial overlay and analysis. The required final outputs for the participants included laid out hazard maps.

 

The NAMRIA training team was composed of Mr. Aljerico A. Alcala as resource person, and Mr. Manuel Lorenzana, Jr. and this writer as training assistants. The PDRF training staff were Mr. Mark Lester Rodrigo, Senior GIS Officer; Mr. Rudyard Nano IV, Project Officer; Ms. Ciara Villanueva, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer; and Ms. Paulith Ann Aguilar, Resilience Officer. The CRS team was composed of Mr. Marvin Lagoner, Program Manager; Mr. Eduardo Bornilla, Senior Project Officer; and Ms. Mary Antonette Janer, Resilence Officer. Also in attendance was CI Nature Base Solution Specialist, Ms. Joanne Flestado.