Valenzuela's Eric Martinez shines in 'senatoriables' debate, shares ideas on disaster management

Valenzuela City 2nd district Rep. Eric Martinez (Facebook)

Senatorial aspirant Valenzuela City 2nd district Rep. Eric Martinez put his best foot forward during the "Tanong ng Bayan: The GMA Senatorial Face-Off 2025" on Saturday, Feb. 1 wherein he spoke about how government can wisely use its budget to improve the country's disaster management strategy.

During the debate with his fellow "senatoriables", Martinez said that the government should explore the use of modern technology in managing climate change and global warming as a strategy to reduce their impact on Philippine communities. 

Martinez, who is gunning for a Senate seat as an independent candidate, also said government should expand its disaster management initiatives--especially flood control projects--beyond Metro Manila. 

On the question of how government can properly use its multi-billion-peso budget on disaster management, Martinez said government ought to study Japan's innovative disaster management technology, which made it resilient to disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and floodings, and explore how the Philippines can adopt this in the local setting. 

"As much as we try to solve the problem of floods, we have to look carefully, tingnan nating mabuti ang makabagong teknolohiya na meron ang Japan at ibang bansa na naging resilient sa mga disasters," he said during the debate. 

(Let's take a good look at the technology available in Japan and other countries that are resilient to disasters.)

"We really have to look into technology and how we are going to use this to improve our disaster management strategies," underscored Martinez, who received good reactions from the audience with his answers.

The lawmaker from Valenzuela also said the government should expand its disaster management projects to include provinces outside of Metro Manila. This would ensure a whole-of-government approach to disaster mitigation. 

Martinez said Metro Manila is already saturated. "Urbanization is real. Metro Manila has reached its point of saturation. We have to look beyond Metro Manila. Let us look towards Bulacan, Bataan, Pampanga, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Rizal. No amount of flood control program in Metro Manila will work if we are not going to expand towards our neighboring provinces."

He added: "That's the way we can go. We have to decentralize Metro Manila for us to have a chance with global warming." 

Martinez, a three-term congressman of Valenzuela City, is banking on his legislative experience in pursuing his Senate bid.