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Flags of ASEAN member countries. Jonathan Cellona ABS-CBN News/pool
MANILA — Southeast Asian countries have formally adopted the Manila Declaration on Advancing the ASEAN Disaster Resilience Agenda Toward 2030 and Beyond, committing the region to move disaster management beyond response and toward earlier action, stronger preparedness and measurable results.
The declaration was adopted Wednesday at the close of the two-day ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Disaster Resilience (AMCDR) in Pasay City.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who chaired the meeting, said the declaration centers on three lines of effort: accelerating implementation of the ASEAN Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme 2026–2030; strengthening accountability, monitoring, and learning for disaster resilience; and shaping ASEAN’s disaster resilience agenda toward 2030 and beyond.
"The adoption of the Manila Declaration is a realization and an admission of the urgency which we need to implement the Sendai Framework and the AADMER (ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response) Framework," Teodoro said.
"And in such a spirit, we have encouraged all ASEAN member states to have functional exchanges and to exchange on a more person-to-person basis, on a more personal basis, ways that we can cooperate," he added.
The declaration is expected to be noted by ASEAN leaders during the 49th ASEAN Summit in November, with the concurrence of all member states.
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FROM WARNING TO ACTION
Indonesia’s Deputy Minister for Prevention, Dr. Abdul Muhari, said the region’s risk landscape is changing faster than existing systems can adapt, driven by climate change, urbanization, environmental degradation, technological disruption and increasing interdependence.
“One message has been unmistakable. Risk is changing faster than our system. As President Marcos reminded us, gaps remain in knowledge, communication, and hazard detection and monitoring among member states. Disaster can now trigger cascading failures across critical sectors and governance," Muhari said.
Muhari said resilience must therefore go beyond protecting individual infrastructure or assets and instead ensure that essential systems and basic services can continue functioning during disasters.
A central implementation priority is to make anticipatory action operational.
"Warning alone is not enough. We must connect this knowledge, forecast, share, trigger, decision authority, pre-arrange financing, and local capacity so that early warning consistently becomes early action," he said.
“This requires end-to-end people-centered early warning systems supported by science, technology, geospatial information, risk analytics, AI, and interoperable data. Scientific knowledge should be complemented by local knowledge, local practices, social capital, and trusted communication network," he added.
For Muhari, the declaration’s implementation must ultimately reach the communities where disasters are experienced.
He said communities should not simply be treated as recipients of assistance but as active participants in disaster preparedness and response, and that local governments need the authority, resources, contingency arrangements and capacity to act before and during disasters.
“The value of our framework will ultimately be measured not by how many commitments we adopt, but by whether people and essential services are better protected before the next disaster occurs," Muhari said.
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STRENGTHENING ONE ASEAN, ONE RESPONSE
ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community San Lwin similarly framed the declaration as a mechanism for translating regional discussions into action.
He said disaster risks are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected and transboundary, requiring stronger collective action and a risk-informed, climate-resilient and people-centered approach.
“We have discussed ways to strengthen disaster risk knowledge, multi-hazards, early warning systems, and anticipatory actions so that we can move increasingly from early warning to early actions and from responding to disaster impacts towards anticipating and reducing them," Lwin said.
He said anticipatory action could also deepen the existing “One ASEAN, One Response” framework, which marks its 10th anniversary this year.
He described the Manila Declaration as a timely outcome of the conference and said it reflects discussions among ASEAN member states and their partners.
“The adoptions of one, Manila Declarations on Advancing ASEAN Disaster Resilience Agenda towards 2030 and Beyond and two, ASEAN leaders' statements on RISE ASEAN visions advancing a resilient, innovative, sustainable and empower ASEAN is timely and reflects the rich and quality discussions held throughout the conference," Lwin said.
PHILIPPINE PUSH FOR ANTICIPATION AND FINANCING
For the Philippines, Teodoro said the shift toward anticipation requires government to prepare and pre-position resources before a disaster occurs.
He cited the State of Imminent Disaster Act as an example of a mechanism allowing local governments and other government units to prepare when a disaster is considered imminent.
“Right now, we see that you cannot respond once a disaster already happens. So prepositioning and preparation is really more important than the actual response," Teodoro said.
Teodoro also emphasized financing, arguing that anticipation can reduce the damage and reconstruction costs associated with disasters.
“Response here should also be read in the context of anticipation because without anticipation, your response will be ineffective and you have to rebuild more, which is more costly in the end," he added.
He said ASEAN could also use its collective position to engage extra-regional partners and seek more favorable financing for disaster-risk-reduction infrastructure, particularly as countries face pressure on their national balance sheets.
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