OML Center Board Member Vice Admiral Alexander P. Pama has been elected as a member of the Global ARISE Network’s Board of Directors.

ARISE or the Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies was organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in 2015 to support the private sector to become a key partner in reducing disaster risk. It has over 400 members and over 29 networks across the world.

VAdm. Pama is a retired Vice Admiral of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and served as the 32nd Flag Officer-in-Command of Philippine Navy prior to his retirement in December 2012.

VAdm. Pama is also an expert on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM). In 2014, he was appointed as the Executive Director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and concurrently the Administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, Department of National Defense where among his mandates was to integrate, supervise, coordinate, and harmonize government and multi-sectoral efforts in DRRM and Resilience. 

During his tenure, he initiated and institutionalized the Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment-Action Programs and Protocols (PDRA-APP), a system and a process that has improved the country’s approach to DRR and has significantly reduced casualties and damages from disasters.

Apart from being one of the Center’s Board Members, VAdm. Pama is currently co-chairing the ARISE Philippines Board of Directors and serving as a consultant to the National Resilience Council. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Asian Institute of Management’s Executive Master in Disaster and Crisis Management and a Lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Master in Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience.