Bill to build evacuation centers in every city, municipality approved in House panel

THE House Appropriations Committee approved a bill seeking to build Evacuation Centers in every Municipality and City in the Philippines, authored by Representatives coming from provinces most devastated by the strongest typhoons from the past decade.

“With the passage of this bill, it is this representation’s hope that we bring to the people reliable and disaster resilient evacuation centers where they can run to in times of danger,” said HB00016 co-author Rep. Alan 1 B. Ecleo from the Lone District of Dinagat Islands, which was leveled by Category 5 Storm Typhoon Odette last December 2021.

Ecleo heads the Committee on Disaster Resilience which approved the Bill last November 2022 and is a co-author of the Bill, along with its primary authors Speaker of the House Rep. Martin Romualdez, Rep. Yedda Marie Hernandez, and Rep. Jude Acidre who all hail from Leyte, which was devastated by another Category 5 Storm Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

“No Province is safe from the destruction and devastation brought by weather-related events, especially in the context of our changing climate,” said Ecleo.

“We need to empower each LGU to be able to provide refuge and service to those who are most in need in times of disaster and calamity.”