NAMRIA, through its Geomatics Training Center (GTC), conducted the fifth Basic Geographic Information System (GIS) training for the Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) Project. The training was held at the STEER Hub Building, Batangas State University (BatSU)-Alangilan Campus on 03-07 July 2023. The training participants were representatives from the City Agricultural Office, City Assessor's Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, City Environment and Natural Resources Office, City Planning and Development Office, City Veterinary Office-Fisheries Division, GIS Application and Development Center (GADC)-BatSU, Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation Inc. (PDRF), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Conservation International (CI). 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.

 

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between NAMRIA, represented by Usec. Peter N. Tiangco, PhD, and PDRF, represented by its President, Mr. Rene S. Meily. PDRF is one of the implementing partners for the CRC Project. The other implementing partners are CRS, CI, and Rocky Mountain Institute. The Project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

BatSU is the national engineering university, by virtue of Republic Act number 11694. BatSU provided the training venue, audio-visual equipment, shuttle service for the training team and the PDRF secretariat, and the back-up computers for the training participants. These were made possible through the coordination of PDRF with BatSU and the generosity of the school's President, Dr. Tirso A. Ronquillo.

 

Pre-training ocular inspection and preparation on the venue were done by the NAMRIA GTC training team and the PDRF secretariat. The setting up of equipment was done with the assistance of Engr. Mhagie F. De Chavez and Engr. John Paul B. Heje, GADC-BatSU staff.

 

The opening remarks for the basic training was delivered by Engr. Erwin Rafael D. Cabral, head of GADC-BatSU, who emphasized skills development and learning application which he described as beneficial and will help fast-track on the tasking by the respective offices of every participant. Mr. Mark Aguinaldo, PDRF Resilience Officer, gave the project background and updates on the activities undertaken and those still to be undertaken, in relation to the five-year project funding of USAID to the Philippines through PDRF. Assoc. Prof. Albertson D. Amante, BatSU Vice-President for Research, Development, and Extension Services, gave the closing remarks at the end of the training.

 

The NAMRIA training team was composed of Mr. Alvin F. Laurio, main resource speaker; Mr. Jeff N. Hunt and Ms. Nilca Jane F. Fabellon, assigned topic lecturers-facilitators; and Mr. Manuel V. Lorenzana Jr., as training assistant.