Christina Frasco: Adviser for resilience or duplicate of disaster council?

Has ex-tourism secretary Christina Frasco’s appointment as presidential adviser for sustainable and resilient communities simply created a bureaucratic echo of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council?

Palace Press Officer Claire Castro told reporters on Tuesday, March 17, at the new Bagong Pilipinas Studio in the Visayas in Mandaue City, Cebu, that Frasco’s new position comes with the following tasks:

• facilitate the integration and alignment of national government initiatives, plans, policies, and programs aimed at promoting sustainable and resilient communities, including initiatives pertaining to disaster-risk reduction, climate adaptation, environmental stewardship and sustainable local development;
• coordinate with national government agencies, local governments, and relevant stakeholders to support the effective implementation of presidential directives and priority national initiatives relating to sustainable and resilient communities; and
• monitor the progress of implementation of such directives and initiatives, and identify gaps, bottlenecks, or coordination issues affecting efforts to promote sustainability and resilience of communities.

Most of these functions already belong to the NDRRMC, headed by no less than Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr..

The entire Section 2 of Republic Act No. 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 lays down in full detail the state’s role in building resilient communities and implementing sustainable development strategies.

Section 6 of the same law gives the NDRRMC the function of advising the president on the status of disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response and rehabilitation operations being undertaken by the government, civil society organizations, private sector, and volunteers.

The NDRRMC can also recommend to the President the declaration of a state of calamity in areas extensively damaged, and submit proposals to restore normalcy in the affected areas and to include in the calamity fund allocation. 

So, wouldn’t Frasco’s presidential adviser role be a little redundant?

Trust still there?

In recent months, Frasco faced sharp public criticism for seemingly promoting herself more in the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) social media and tourism-related materials than actual travel destinations in the Philippines.

It didn’t take long before speculations started spreading of her impending “excommunication” from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ‘s Cabinet.

On Thursday, March 12, Malacañang confirmed this, stating that Frasco was no longer tourism chief but now an adviser for “sustainable and resilient communities.”

“First of all, Secretary [Christina] Frasco still has the trust given by the President.” That was how Castro prefaced her answer on why the ex-tourism secretary was appointed as presidential adviser for sustainable and resilient communities.

“Mas alam ng Pangulo na kakayanin ni Secretary Frasco ang pakikipag-ugnayan sa lokal na pamahalaan at sa patungkol po para sa mas maibsan ang mga maaaring danasin ng ating mga kababayan kapag may mga sakuna o may mga pangyayari na hindi natin na inaasahan,” Palace Press Office Claire Castro said in a press briefing on Tuesday, March 17.

(The President knows well that Secretary Frasco can handle coordination with local governments and how to better alleviate the suffering our countrymen may experience when disasters or unexpected events occur.)

The only snag is that the NDRRMC is already doing that.

It can be recalled that Frasco was on ground zero in Bogo City when Marcos made his visit to Cebu a few days after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked Cebu on September 30, 2025.

At the time, she was there to assist the tourism sector in Northern Cebu that took a beating in the wake of the rumbling.

However, it’s also worth noting that Frasco left official duties as head of the Philippine delegation at the World Travel Market on November 4, 2025, to tend to her former constituents in Liloan after it was devastated by Typhoon Tino (Kalmaegi).

According to Frasco, she needed to be with families in Liloan who were affected by Typhoon Tino.

Castro’s assurance – that Marcos believes Frasco can be trusted with disaster-risk reduction – might make better sense if the former tourism secretary had been placed within the NDRRMC, the very body tasked with building sustainable and resilient communities.

As it stands, one is left to wonder: what, precisely, is Frasco meant to do? Advise the council that advises the president?

A tricky situation

“I am grateful to the President for the trust and confidence in appointing me as Presidential Adviser for Sustainable and Resilient Communities,” Frasco wrote in an Instagram post on Monday, March 16.

For Frasco, it was a privilege to have served as tourism secretary and worked with partners in government, local communities, and the private sector in strengthening tourism, sustaining jobs for millions of Filipinos, and expanding opportunities among other feats.

Still, with the ASEAN Summit happening in Cebu, especially in May 2026 — only two months away, the timing of the change in leadership at the tourism department poses a bit of a “sticky situation” for the country.

The summit is expected to draw in thousands of officials, delegates, and media groups, along with their subordinates and some family members for tourism-related activities in Cebu and the rest of the country.

As of this posting, the DOT will be headed, temporarily, by Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso. 

Without any clear hints of who might be leading the country’s tourism agency next, it’ll be quite difficult to predict how the country will position itself for its foreign guests in what might be the busiest time of the year for Cebu.

So, do we just trust in the process or do we have a plan? Maybe, the president can answer this in the days to come. – Rappler.com