Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

6794

House Bill No.

Introduced by Rep. MARIO VITTORIO “MARVEY” A. MARINO
bt District, Batangas

EXPLANATORY NOTE

It is notable that the government, led by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC), has been conducting disaster preparedness programs
particularly for earthquakes, fire, and other natural calamities and/or disasters to enhance our
resiliency and preparedness in facing these catastrophes. It cannot be denied, however, that
disasters are not limited to earthquakes, fire or natural calamities. It includes hazardous
phenomena involving hazardous materials (HazMat) such as toxic chemicals, poisonous
substances, or chemical, biological and radiological agents.

‘The 1984 Bhopal disaster in India, for instance, demonstrated the dangers of HazMat
releases not only to the facility workers, but also to neighboring communities. In this 1984
incident, a Union Carbide plant released approximately forty tons of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC)
into the air killed about 5,000 people and injured 50,000 more. The danger of storing said
materials was also particularly evident in the explosion of a warehouse storing HazMats in
Tianjin, China. This HazMat explosion killed hundreds of people.

The United States Congress recognized the potential risks of releases and/or accidents in
HazMats facilities by enacting the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act
(EPCRA) to help communities plan for chemical emergencies and prepare the community
from potential risks. This representation seeks to do the same.

This measure proposes to provide proper training and preparedness programs to ensure
the systematic, safe, and orderly response to hazardous material releases and/or accidents
particularly in industries and facilities dealing with hazardous materials, as well as nearby
communities, so as to reduce the risks on their lives, limb and properties.

In view of the foregoing, the early passage C7 requested.
MARIO’ ‘ORIO ‘VEY’ A. MARINO

* References:
“What are hazardous materials?” Institute of Hazardous Materials Management, Retrieved
November 20, 2017 from https://www.ihmm.org/about-ihmm/what-are-hazardous-materials


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. 6794

Introduced by Rep. MARIO VITTORIO “MARVEY” A. MAR
5th District, Batangas

AN ACT MANDATING THE CONDUCT OF EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS DRILLS IN FACILITIES HANDLING, STORING, AND
TRANSPORTING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS,

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as “HazMat Accidents Preparedness
Act”.

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is the policy of the State to ensure systematic,
safe, and orderly response to hazardous material releases and/or accidents so as to reduce the
risks on the lives, limb, and properties of the people by providing education, training, and
preparedness programs.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. —

a. Emergency — refers to a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring
immediate action, such as but not limited to hazardous material releases and/or
biological, chemical or radiological accidents.

b. Facility — means all buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items
which are located on a single site or on contiguous or adjacent sites and which are
‘owned or operated by the same person (or by any person which controls, is controlled
by, or under common control with, such person).

c. Hazardous material (HazMat) — any item or agent (biological, chemical, radiological,
and/or physical), which has the potential to cause harm to humans, animals, or the
environment, either by itself or through interaction with other factors.

d. Motor vehicles - shall mean any vehicle propelled by any power other than muscular
power using the public highways, but excepting road rollers, trolley cars,
street-sweepers, sprinklers, lawn mowers, bulldozers, graders, fork-lifts, amphibian
trucks, and cranes if not used on public highways, vehicles which run only on rails or


tracks, and tractors, trailers and traction engines of all kinds used exclusively for
agricultural purposes.

e. Release — means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying,
discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the
environment (including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and
other closed receptacles) of any hazardous chemical, extremely hazardous substance,
or toxic chemical.

SECTION 4. Emergency Preparedness Protocols in Facilities Handling, Storing, and
Transporting HazMats. — Facilities handling, storing, and transporting HazMats shall
formulate emergency preparedness protocols in case of releases, accidents, and other
potential risks relative to the management, storage, and transportation of HazMats. Drills
shall likewise be conducted to properly carry out these protocols.

SECTION 5. Conduct of Emergency Preparedness Drills in Facilities Handling and
Storing HazMats.

a. Emergency preparedness drills on HazMat releases and/or accidents shall be
conducted on a monthly basis in facilities handling, storing, and transporting
hazardous materials, Provided nighttime drills shall be done at least thrice a year.

b. The drills shall include: (i) the establishment of emergency communications system
and evacuation routes and plans in case of HazMat releases, accidents and other
hazardous phenomena (ii) practice and instruction concerning the location, use and
operation of hazardous material protection suits, footwear, masks, gloves and other
protective equipment, and (iii) evaluation of every concluded drill on the efficacy and
efficiency of the plans, the problems/intervening threats encountered, and the
potential remedies to such problems.

¢. A record of all drills shall be kept, and persons in charge of the facilities shall file
quarterly written reports with the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Council (RDRRMC), giving the time and date of each drill held.

SECTION 6. Conduct of Emergency Preparedness Drills for Motor Vehicles
Transporting HazMats.

a. All facilities using or contracting motor vehicles for transporting HazMats shall
conduct at least two (2) emergency preparedness, containment, and evacuation drills
in a year, Provided nighttime drills shall be done at least once a year. The first
emergency drill shall be conducted during the first quarter of the year and the second
during the third quarter.

b. Each drill shall include the practice and instruction concerning the proper evacuation
of the vehicles and proper containment of HazMats in case of releases, accidents, and
other hazardous phenomena during transportation.

c. Facility operators and drivers shall be trained and instructed by the RDRRMC to
enable them to carry out the provisions of this Act.


d. The person(s) in charge of the facilities shall certify in writing to the RDRRMC that
the drills required herein have been conducted, giving the time and date of each drill
held.

SECTION 7. Implementing Agency. — The National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC) and its regional and local offices shall oversee the
implementation of this Act in each locality and shall keep record of the reports submitted by
the facilities handling hazardous materials.

SECTION 8. Penalties. — Building administrators or any person in charge of the
administration or management the facilities who refuse or fail to carry out the provisions of
this Act shall be given a warning for the first offense; a fine of Five Thousand Pesos
(PhpS,000.00) for the second offense; a fine of Ten Thousand Pesos (Php10,000.00) for the
third offense; and imprisonment of one (1) month and a fine of Thirty Thousand Pesos
(Php30,000.00) for subsequent offenses. The fines shall go to the funds of the local
NDRRMC office and shall be used for disaster prevention and mitigation programs of the
locality.

SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, executive orders, memorandum
circulars inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby amended, repealed or
modified accordingly.

SECTION 10. Effectivity. — This act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,