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About Us
Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services, Inc. has worked with Indigenous and rural communities across the Cordillera since 1987.
Our story
The organisation now called Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services was born in the aftermath of the June 1987 earthquake, which brought disaster to scores of villages across three provinces of the Cordillera Region in Northern Luzon.
It was known then as the Montanosa Relief and Rehabilitation Foundation Services, Inc. In response to the disaster, and to government inaction, several non-government and cause-oriented organisations went on a fact-finding and relief mission to the affected areas. They assessed the impact of the earthquake and extended immediate assistance.
Shortly afterwards, they resolved to set up a regular mechanism for disaster response in the Cordillera. That decision began the process which led to the formation of CorDisRDS.
CorDisRDS has now served for more than two decades. Evaluation, summing up and the drawing of lessons from that service merited a reorganisation and expansion of the programme, broadening the work from emergency response into long-term community development.
- June 1987An earthquake devastates villages across three provinces of the Cordillera.
- The responseNon-government and cause-oriented organisations mount a fact-finding and relief mission to the affected areas.
- The decisionThose organisations resolve to build a permanent mechanism for disaster response in the region.
- Montanosa Relief and Rehabilitation Foundation ServicesThe organisation is formed under its original name.
- ReorganisationRenamed CorDisRDS, with the work broadened from emergency response into long-term community development.
- TodayWorking across the seven provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region and the City of Baguio.
CorDisRDS supports the Cordillera people’s collective effort to address the problem of disaster vulnerability, and to increase their capability through citizen-based, development-oriented disaster response.
Our mission
Our Vision
CorDisRDS envisions a Cordillera Region where:
- People can effectively manage disasters or emergencies that befall them
- Communities are able to exercise self-reliance and self-determination
- Communities control, utilise and nurture their natural resources to sustain present and future generations
- Communities maximise their Indigenous socio-political institutions, where both women and men meaningfully participate in decision-making
- People enjoy equitable access to socio-economic and socio-cultural opportunities and services
- Communities are food sufficient and the basic human right to food is met
- People can take pride in their culture
Our Mission
CorDisRDS supports the Cordillera people’s collective effort to address the problem of disaster vulnerability, and to increase their capability through citizen-based, development-oriented disaster response.
We assist the organised vulnerable sectors of the Cordillera population in disaster preparedness, response and mitigation, and in rehabilitation work.
We mobilise those sectors of Cordillera society who are less vulnerable to disaster, towards providing support for the more vulnerable.
CorDisRDS is also committed to enhancing the capacity of communities in sustainable socio-economic and agricultural development within Cordillera Indigenous culture, even in the absence of disaster.
What we do
Four programmes carry the mission: disaster risk reduction, education, community development, and the monitoring that keeps all of it honest.
Where we work
Across the seven provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region and the City of Baguio.
Apayao Kalinga Abra Mountain Province Ifugao Benguet Baguio City
Work with us
Partnerships, volunteering, and support for disaster-affected communities across the Cordillera.