Senate committee hears Nino Correa�s confirmation hearing for emergency-management post

Nino Correa Filomeno appeared before the Senates Committee on Nominations to seek formal confirmation as commissioner of the Negociado para Manejo de Emergencias y Administracif3n de Desastres. Correa, who has served more than three years as interim commissioner and described over two decades in emergency management, framed his record around community preparedness and year-round operations.

Correa told the committee he has been "three years, six months and 28 days" serving as interim commissioner and described the agencys shift since Hurricane Mara-a toward constant preparedness, citing experiences that include Hurricane Georges, the 2020 earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic. "It is not a seasonal job," he said, adding that ‘‘the community has to change the cultureand the government must provide the tools." (Correa: "hoy se cumplen tres años con seis meses y veintiocho dedas de estar como comisionado interino...")

Law and qualifications were central to the hearing. Senators noted an amendment to the statute that enabled Correas nomination. Several senators — including Ana Irma Rivera Se1nchez, William Villafaae9 and Vargas Vidot — praised Correas on-the-ground experience and urged the committee to advance the nomination. Villafaae9 recalled bipartisan support and said the change in the law allowed Correa to be considered for the permanent post.

Lawmakers pressed Correa on operational details and specific vulnerabilities. He described a committee (BOC) organized to manage distribution logistics and said a FEMA Community Hubs agreement had been executed so that shipments arriving at ports would be routed through trusted nonprofits and faith-based organizations for direct municipal distribution rather than warehousing.

Correa and senators discussed strategies for communicating with deaf communities and residents without Internet access. He highlighted a revived radio-amateur network and monthly tests of participants as an alternate communications layer. On coastal risks, Correa cited a prior inventory with "sobre cuatrocientas veintifan estructuras" within 400 meters of the coast and said that, combined with vulnerability maps, the exposure could encompass a large number of residents.

The committee closed without a vote recorded in the transcript; the chair thanked participants and adjourned the public hearing at 1:29 p.m. The nomination will proceed through whatever next steps the Senates internal processes require.

Ending: The hearing focused on the nominees experience and the agencys operational plans; senators asked for follow-up work on municipal inventories, shelter readiness and certification of coastal multi-story buildings. No formal confirmation vote appears in the provided record.