Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday that the government strives to submit a new civil protection framework bill – which aims to allow the government to better respond to “unforeseen public incidents” such as typhoons, other natural disasters and major accidents – to the Legislative Assembly (AL) for debate and vote late this month or early next month.
Wong made the remarks while speaking to reporters after attending the opening ceremony of yesterday’s Open Day of the Fire Services Bureau (CB). The one-day event took place at the bureau’s headquarters near Macau Tower. The Fire Services Bureau is overseen by Wong’s public security portfolio.
In the wake of deadly Super Typhoon Hato, which hit the city on August 23, 2017, the government has been proposing a new civil protection framework law, and launched a public consultation on the matter in June last year. The government proposes that the new framework law replace the existing decree-law regulating the government’s civil protection system and tasks promulgated back in 1992 when Macau was still under Portuguese administration.
Accompanied by Fire Services Bureau (CB) Commissioner Leong Iok Sam (back), Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak speaks to reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of yesterday’s Fire Services Bureau Open Day at the CB headquarters near Macau Tower. Photo: GCS
