THE Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) has inaugurated its new command center in Sitio Groto, Barangay Apas, Cebu City to strengthen Cebu’s disaster response.
The facility gives the province a permanent, centralized hub for emergency coordination and rescue operations. It is also expected to improve real-time communication, situational monitoring, and decision-making during disasters such as typhoons, floods, and earthquakes across Cebu.
PDRRMO head Dennis Pastor said during a press conference on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, the center was originally built in 2019 as an evacuation facility at the time of former governor Hilario Davide III. It was later used for about a month as a quarantine center during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to its renovation, the facility was flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) as an idle infrastructure.
To make the center operational, the Provincial Government spent P9 million to renovate the two-story building, a two-story dormitory, a training center, and comfort rooms. The renovation began in October 2025 and was completed early this month, January 2026.
Pastor said the lack of a fully functional command facility previously limited the PDRRMO’s capacity to operate effectively during emergencies, particularly when his office formally assumed full operations on July 1, 2025.
Pastor cited his experience during typhoon Tino on Nov. 4, when flooding affected areas near the Danao City Hall, forcing the local government unit (LGU) to transfer operations to its command center located on higher ground about seven kilometers away.
“That location proved very strategic,” Pastor said.
Department
The PDRRMO was officially established as a department in September 2025.
The command center occupies less than 10 hectares of the 57-hectare Provincial Government-owned property in Barangay Apas.
Inside the facility are communication radios linking northern and southern Cebu, connectivity with three telecommunications providers, and an LED wall used for weather monitoring and situational awareness.
The command center is also equipped with a P3.5-million drone with night vision, thermal imaging, and camera capabilities, although its operator still requires training and licensing.
Gov. Pamela Baricuato, in the same interview, said the absence of a permanent emergency command facility had posed challenges during previous disaster responses, including the earthquake on Sept. 30, 2025.
“If you remember during the earthquake, we were just in the Heritage Park. Our emergency rescue center was only a tent outside, and we were later accommodated in the CPPO (Cebu Police Provincial Office) command center because we had no space of our own,” Baricuato said.
“So this facility is very vital for us in disaster response,” she added.
The PDRRMO currently has 50 personnel, composed of 21 responders and 29 administrative staff.
Cebu Association of DRRM Heads president Roland Reyes welcomed the opening of the command center, saying it fulfills the long-standing requirement for a provincial disaster command hub.
“We’re really very happy. We’ve been longing for this for a long time. You see, all LGUs are mandated to have it’s own command center, so this gives us a place to turn to when an LGU can no longer manage a disaster situation on its own,” Reyes said.
Meanwhile, Pastor said the PDRRMO is planning to establish communication facilities on the islands of Camotes and Bantayan. / CDF