Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City f

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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS \
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First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No8 848

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA
Rep. NERI COLMENARES and Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI ZARATE

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING IN EVERY TWO TO THREE CONTIGUOUS
BARANGAYS AN EVACUATION CENTER THAT IS BIG ENOUGH
TO ACCOMMODATE THE TARGET POPULATION, STRONG
ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND NATURAL CALAMITIES AND
SITUATED AWAY FROM WATERS.
AND LANDSLIDE-PRONE AREAS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

transformed

It is a fact we have to accept and live by that climate change ha
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 strongest recorded by far was Hurricane Camille in 1969 with 305 kph of
sustained winds. Coupled by a storm surge that 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. The problem is that schools
are not made to accommodate families in distress because these are not usually
equipped with enough facilities such as comfort rooms, kitchens, ot sleeping areas
to lessen the discomfort of families having to leave their homes so 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 things 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.

Tn the absence still of a comprehensive disaster eduction and tisk plan, it is
imperative that evacuation centers be constructed in a location, that serves as
centet to two ot three contiguous barangays, strong enough to withstand typhoons
like Yolanda and are climate change-adaptive.

As lesson learned from 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 the disaster pteparedness and risk reduction would
really lessen the impact of calamities on the lives of the people.

Meantime, 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-tesilient, climate change-adaptive evacuation
centers are located at a distance safe from waters and landslide-prone areas in every
two to three contiguous barangays.

Based on the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought.


Approved

ip. NERt J. COLMENARE! vo Chiba se

Bayan Muna Panty-list Bayan Muna Party lst


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 8648

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA
Rep. NERI J. COLMENARES and Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI ZARATE

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING IN EVERY TWO TO THREE CONTIGUOUS BARANGAYS AN
EVACUATION CENTER THAT IS BIG ENOUGH TO ACCOMMODATE THE
TARGET POPULATION, STRONG ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND NATURAL
CALAMITIES AND SITUATED AWAY FROM WATERS
AND LANDSLIDE-PRONE AREAS

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

SECTION 1. Policy— It is the policy of the State to uphold the people's constitutional rights
to life and property by addressing the root causes of vulnerabilities to disasters, strengthening the
country's institutional capacity for disaster risk reduction and management and building the
resilience of local communities to disasters including climate change impacts;

SECTION 2.There shall be created an evacuation center located in the center of every two to
three contiguous barangays nationwide to accommodate the population of the contiguous
communities.

SECTION 3.The evacuation centers shall be designed by experts to withstand super typhoons
or shall be calamity-resilient and built with sturdy materials. The NDRRMC shall be the lead
agency in ensuring that the requirements for such an evacuation center are met. The lead agency
shall coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Public
‘Works and Highways in the planning and construction of such facilities.

SECTION 4. Each location for every evacuation center shall be chosen and prepared by the
concerned Local Government Units in coordination with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
‘The MGB shall be guided by appropriate studies in choosing the best location for the evacuation
center.

SECTION 4. Appropriations. — The NDRRMC shall be the lead agency to ensure the
planning and the implementation of this Act. Appropriation for the construction of evacuation
centers shall come from the budget of the NDRRMC for the repair and reconstruction of
permanent structures.


SECTION 5. Repealing Clause. — All laws, executive and administrative orders or parts
thereof, inconsistent with any provision of this Act ate hereby repealed ot modified accordingly.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following the completion of its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a national newspaper of general circulation.

Approved