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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING EVACUATION CENTERS IN EVERY CITY AND 
MUNICIPALITY, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
It is a fact we have to accept and live by that climate change has transformed 
natural calamities into more disastrous and more deadly types. Thus, we have to start 
adjusting to this reality and take positive steps to mitigate, to the least possible, effects 
of disasters that might be even worse than we could imagine.  
Nobody ever thought that the strong winds released by typhoon Yolanda would 
reach sustained winds of up to a record-breaking 315 kph. Before Yolanda, the world’s 
strongest recorded was Hurricane Camille in 1969 with 305 kph of sustained winds. 
Coupled by a storm surge, it brought waters rising up to almost 20 feet high. Nobody 
among the victims ever imagined that it would be like the more familiar tsunami that 
inundated everything and literally flattened their communities the moment it subsided. 
Some school buildings, which were made as evacuation centers during the pre-
emptive evacuation in some areas in Visayas for typhoon Yolanda, were also not spared 
because of the misinformation of a storm surge. Numerous evacuees actually died in 
the said school buildings.  
Schools have always been used as evacuation centers. However, schools are not 
made to accommodate families in distress because these are not usually equipped with 
September 26, 2022
1:24 pm
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enough facilities such as comfort rooms, kitchens, or sleeping areas to lessen the 
discomfort of families having to leave their homes to save their lives.   
 
In fact, schools must not be used as evacuation centers because the children’s 
education are the most affected especially in situations when it should have started to 
get normal but families cannot yet vacate the school premises because their houses have 
not yet been repaired nor constructed. This practice of using schools as evacuation 
centers has to stop to cushion the impact of calamities and disasters, especially on the 
children.  
 
In the absence still of a comprehensive disaster reduction and risk plan, it is 
imperative that evacuation centers be constructed in a location that serves as center to 
two or three contiguous barangays, strong enough to withstand typhoons like Yolanda 
and are climate change-adaptive. 
 
As a lesson learned from the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda and even from 
previous typhoons that had wrought almost the same damage to affected areas, 
evacuation centers should be constructed in areas at a distance safe from waters and 
landslide-prone areas.   
 
Lives have been wasted because of the negligence on the part of the government 
to ensure that a program for disaster preparedness and risk reduction would really lessen 
the impact of calamities on the lives of the people.  
 
The fact that the Philippines is a country often visited by typhoons yearly, the 
government has to undertake measures while waiting for the completion of a 
comprehensive program and its eventual implementation. We can save lives by ensuring 
that sturdy and typhoon-resilient, climate change-adaptive evacuation centers are 
located at a distance safe from waters and landslide-prone areas in every city and 
municipality, and eventually in every two to three contiguous barangays.  
 
This Bill was first filed by Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Neri 
Colmenares in the 16th Congress, and refiled in the 17th Congress. In the 18th Congress, 
House Bill 5259, which was refiled by Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Carlos 
Isagani Zarate, was substituted by House Bill 8990 and was passed in third reading last 
March 25, 2021. 
 
Based on the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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Approved, 
________________________________ 
Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO 
ACT Teachers Party-List 
________________________________ 
Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS 
GABRIELA Women’s Party 
________________________________ 
Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
KABATAAN Party-List 


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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL No. _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
ESTABLISHING EVACUATION CENTERS IN EVERY CITY AND 
MUNICIPALITY, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled: 
SEC. 1. Declaration of Policy. – It shall be the policy of the State to uphold the 
constitutional right of the people for the protection of their life and property and 
promotion of the general welfare. Towards this end, the State shall establish and 
maintain a fully-equipped and fully-operational evacuation center, responsive to 
environmental or climatic events, in recognition of the vulnerability of the Philippines 
to climate change, the occurrence of severe floods, typhoons, and other natural or 
human-induced disaster, illnesses, diseases and other factors that affect the 
environment. 
SEC. 2. Establishment of Evacuation Centers. – There shall be created a 
evacuation center in every city and municipality in the country which shall provide 
immediate and temporary accommodation for people who have been evacuated or 
displaced from their homes due to emergency events such as typhoons, floods, storm 
surges, drought and other severe climate disturbances, as well as fire, and the outbreak 
of illness and diseases that present imminent danger to life and property. 
Existing structures that would meet the minimum requirements or could be 
upgraded to effectively serve as evacuation centers could be designated as such in 
compliance with local government unit concerned. 
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SEC. 3. Requirements. – The following shall be the minimum requirements for 
every evacuation center that will be established under this Act: 
 
a. Location Design - Each location for every evacuation center shall be 
determined by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 
(DENR), in close coordination with the LGUs concerned. 
 
The location shall be determined based on the following criteria: 
 
1. It must be centrally located in the community; 
 
2. It must be of a safe distance from large distance from large trees, 
structures where hazardous materials are used and stored, or high-
voltage power lines; 
 
3. It must be near a health facility; 
 
4. It must be located on geotechnically stable land to avoid risk of 
landslides or exposure to potential landslide of adjacent lands; 
 
5. It must not be located near military base camps, camps of insurgent 
groups, power plants, factories, and other areas where the 
occurrence of human-induced disasters are very high. 
 
b. Structural and Building Capacity - The evacuation centers shall be 
constructed and designed to withstand super typhoons or wind speeds of 
at least three hundred kilometers per hour (300 kph) and seismic activity 
of at least 8.0 magnitude. The structure must be calamity-resilient, built 
with sturdy materials, and in accordance with the specifications of 
Republic Act No. 6541, otherwise known as the “National Building Code 
of the Philippines” or shall be at par with the standards set by the 
International Building Code. 
 
 
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) shall be 
in charge of the construction of evacuation centers, including the 
formulation of building specifications and shall ensure that the same are 
based on standards, issuances, and other guidelines set by the DPWH, and 
are compliant with the provisions of the National Building Code. The 
DPWH shall also ensure that the construction of such evacuation centers 
is in accordance with the abovementioned requirements during its 
construction phase. 
 
 
The specifications of the evacuation centers shall be periodically 
reviewed and, if necessary, revised by the DPWH every three (3) years. 
 
The evacuation center must at least meet the following parameters: 
 


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1. The structure must be elevated, in such a manner that is safely 
above the reach of a high tide storm surge level of at least ten (10) 
meters; 
 
2. The structure must be a minimum of one (1) meter above the 
average flood level in the area where the same shall be built; and 
 
3. The structure shall not be less than nine (9) meters in height and 
shall be designed in accordance with earthquake load standards. 
 
c. Amenities and Accessibility. - The evacuation centers shall be well-
ventilated and shall have the capacity to accommodate a large number of 
evacuees. The evacuation center shall have the following minimum 
amenities: 
 
1. Sleeping quarters for the evacuees; 
 
2. Separate shower and toilet facilities designated for males, and 
females, with one (1) facility for every twenty (20) persons; 
 
3. Amenities to enable access thereto by persons with disabilities; 
 
4. Emergency exit doors; 
 
5. Food preparation areas with adequate ventilation; 
 
6. Trash and waste segregation and collection areas; 
 
7. Health care areas which shall include an isolation or quarantine 
area for potentially infectious persons; 
 
8. Rainwater harvesting and collection facilities; and 
 
9. Other facilities as may be prescribed by the appropriate authorities. 
 
SEC. 4. Operation and Management. – The LGUs concerned shall be primarily 
responsible for the operation, supervision, and management of evacuation centers 
established under this Act. They are also hereby authorized to issue rules and 
regulations on their proper use and maintenance. 
 
The local sanggunian shall promulgate guidelines and procedures for the use and 
operation of the evacuation center under its jurisdiction. The guidelines shall prescribe 
rules on the utilization of the evacuation center when it is not used as such: Provided, 
That the evacuation center may only be used of such other activities or purposes that 
involve the use of collapsible amenities and those that shall not in any way compromise 
the serviceability of the evacuation center or impede the use thereof when a disaster 


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occurs: Provided further, That the LGU shall impose such penalties as may be deemed 
proper on the organizers of authorized activities when the evacuation center suffers any 
damage, defacement, or loss during or as a result of such activities. 
 
The mandatory audit of infrastructures used as evacuation centers shall be 
conducted by the City or Municipality at least once every year and immediately after 
the occurrence of a hazard or disaster. 
 
SEC. 5. Role of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management 
Council (NDRRMC). – The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management 
Council (NDRRMC) shall be the lead implementing agency of this Act. It shall give 
utmost priority to those areas of the country that (a) are identified as disaster prone; (b) 
are financially incapable to establish their own evacuation centers; and © do not have 
existing evacuation centers of their own. 
 
It shall enter into memoranda of agreement (MOA) with the concerned LGUs 
for the maintenance, operation, and management of a permanent evacuation center in 
their respective areas of jurisdiction. It shall provide technical assistance and support 
services to these LGUs in the management of the facility. 
 
Local chief executives concerned shall evaluate and provide suitable sites for 
evacuation centers to determine their geographical stability, and public accessibility in 
times of disasters. They shall provide for the maintenance, operation, and management 
of the facility taking into consideration the goal of life preservation and meeting the 
basic subsistence needs of affected population based on acceptable standards during or 
immediately after a disaster. 
 
SEC. 6. Coordination Among Agencies. – The NDRRMC shall coordinate with 
the DPWH and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) with regard to the 
design specifications, cost estimates, and construction details of the evacuation centers 
that will be constructed pursuant to this Act. 
 
Concerned government agencies and instrumentalities, when necessary, shall 
provide assistance to the NDRRMC to ensure the effective and efficient implementation 
of this Act. 
 
SEC. 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within sixty (60) days from 
the effectivity of this Act, the NDRRMC shall, in consultation with the DPWH, DOST, 
League of Cities of the Philippines, League of Municipalities of the Philippines, and 
other concerned government and private agencies, promulgate the necessary rules and 
regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act; 
 
SEC. 8. Appropriations. — The amount necessary for the initial implementation 
to fund the construction and maintenance of multi-purpose gyms to serve as evacuation 
centers shall be charged against the budget provided for this purpose under the DPWH. 
Thereafter, such amounts necessary for the construction of multipurpose gyms as 


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evacuation centers shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. The 
LGU concerned shall provide the continued maintenance, operation and management 
of the facility.  
 
 
SEC. 9. Separability Clause. – If any provision or part thereof, is held invalid 
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provisions not otherwise affected 
shall remain valid subsisting. 
 
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. – All laws, presidential decree or issuance, 
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary 
to, or inconsistent with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed or amended 
accordingly. 
 
SEC. 11. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in the Official Gazette or in a national newspaper of general circulation. 
 
 
Approved,