MANILA - A lawmaker on Wednesday said the recently-signed Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Modernization Act would be an effective instrument to professionalize and boost the morale and efficiency of the agency tasked to save lives and property in times of fire and other calamities.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said the new law would expand the functions of the BFP to include responding to natural and man-made disasters and assisting in rescue and emergency medical services in cooperation with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the local government units (LGUs).

Villafuerte said President Rodrigo Duterte is authorized under this measure to create a trust fund to bankroll the 10-year modernization program of the BFP.

"With the timely signing by President Duterte of this law, the BFP will hopefully be transformed from a decrepit agency into a world-class institution. More importantly, the law will help professionalize the ranks of the BFP and allow the agency to hire more personnel," Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte noted that despite the passage of Republic Act 9514, or the Fire Code of the Philippines in 2008, the BFP has reported an increase in fire incidents in 2018 along with casualties of 200 people caught in fire accidents.

He also said the BFP is short of fire trucks, 39 percent of which were acquired between 1950 and 1999, as well as self-contained breathing apparatus devices.

"The Fire Code of the Philippines was to be the principal law to help prevent and suppress destructive fires in the country. It also aimed for the professionalization of the fire service as a profession and encourage an increase of firefighters. However, as of 2017, the Commission on Audit reported the lack of less than half the ideal number of firefighters in the country," he said.

He said the BFP Modernization Trust Fund under the new law will include appropriations for BFP modernization, as well as 80 percent of the share of the BFP from all taxes, fees, and fines collected under the Fire Code.

Other sources for the fund are proceeds from the disposal of excess and uneconomically repairable equipment and other movable assets of the BFP, supplemental assistance from the Congress from surpluses, loans, grants or donations, and the fund's interest income.

The LGUs are authorized under the law to use their respective share from all taxes, fees and fines collected under the Fire Code for the construction, repair, rehabilitation and/or operation and maintenance of local fire stations, and the procurement of protective gear and equipment for their firefighters, among other local BFP modernization initiatives.

"The law will enable the BFP to purchase enough protective gear and equipment for our firefighters who always risk their lives to save others," he said. (PNA)