With the unending government problem of providing interim shelter to millions of Filipinos dislocated by one calamity after another, Camarine Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has called for the inclusion in the priority list of bills for approval this first regular session of the 19th Congress a measure establishing disaster-resilient evacuation centers nationwide for the benefit of underprivileged families who suffer the most during typhoons, earthquakes and other natural hazards.
“While we welcome the Oct. 10 decision by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to draw up with President Marcos a common legislative agenda (CLA) of 30 priority bills for urgent approval this first session of the 19th Congress, we are hoping for the addition to this CLA list of this measure that similarly cries out for immediate attention: the bill on the establishment of permanent evacuation centers across the country,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP), expressed the hope that the House leadership would add the proposed establishment of permanent evacuation nationwide to the 16 to 18 bills identified by Romualdez for approval before the yearend recess of the Congress.
He was referring to the priority bills listed in the CLA that was drawn up during the first Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting that President Marcos convened last Oct. 10 at Malacañang Palace.
Villafuerte expressed the hope that his fellow legislators would consider the urgency of putting up evacuation centers in every municipality across the country, as the House Subcommittee on Disaster Preparedness started deliberating on consolidating 26 bills all proposing to establish government shelters for people who are forced to leave their homes whenever there are natural calamities or disasters.
The president of the National Unity Party (NUP) introduced one of these measures in the chamber—House Bill (HB) 1091—that he had authored with three provincemates, namely, Representatives Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Bicol Saro Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII.
This subcommittee plans to consolidate HB 1091 and the other bills into HB 16, which was authored by Speaker Martin Romualdez with Tingog Sinirangan Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez and June Acidre.
Villafuerte noted that earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself, during a situation briefing after inspecting areas hit by typhoon “Karding” last September, instructed Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo to conduct a study on Tulfo’s proposal on building permanent evacuation centers in every municipality across the country.
After the LEDAC meeting, Romualdez and Zubiri agreed to prioritize the approval of 20 of the CLA bills, all of which were endorsed by President Marcos in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 25.
With the reopening of the Congress from its month-long recess, Romualdez then bared in a Nov. 6 statement that the House would work on passing 16 to 18 of these CLA measures on third and final reading before the Christmas break of lawmakers.
“The world’s failure to reverse climate change is expected to spell stronger and deadlier typhoons and other natural hazards in the years ahead, hence exacerbating for both the national and local government units (LGUs) this recurring challenge of providing interim shelter to hundreds of thousands or even millions of families forced to leave their homes during cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other calamities,” Villafuerte said.
“And with the return of in-person academic classes all over the country as part of the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ scenario, there is more pressure on the national government and LGUs to immediately house disaster-affected evacuees in shelters other than public schools, so as not to disrupt the back-to-normal teaching mode for our teachers and students,” added Villafuerte, who had served as three-term Camarines Sur governor.
Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP), expressed the hope that the House leadership would add the proposed establishment of permanent evacuation nationwide to the 16 to 18 bills identified by Romualdez for approval before the yearend recess of the Congress.
The NUP chief and his three provincemates—Representatives Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Bicol Saro Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII—have filed one version—House Bill (HB) No. 1091—of the proposed provision of immediate and temporary accommodation for people who have been evacuated or dislocated from their homes because of emergency events such as earthquakes; typhoons, floods, storm surges, droughts and other severe climate disturbances; fires; and disease outbreaks that present imminent danger to life and property.
Villafuerte pointed out that after severe tropical storm “Paeng” had struck Bicol and many other parts of the country, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that, as of Nov. 24, 2,936 families or 12,298 individuals were still housed in 87 evacuation centers nationwide; while another 36,004 dislocated families or 179,788 persons were still staying with either their relatives or friends.
According to the DSWD, “Paeng” had totally or partially damaged 69,467 houses in the typhoon-battered affected areas.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported, meanwhile, that as Nov. 19, “Paeng” had affected 1.47 million families or 5.98 million individuals, with 327,048 people housed in 113 evacuation centers.
Villafuerte said that the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) expects two more weather disturbances to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) in the next two weeks alone.
With permanent evacuation centers around, Villafuerte the government could better achieve its zero-casualty goals in disaster risk management as it could go full-blast on preemptive evacuation, especially of people in coastal and mountainous villages.
Thirty-two (32) priority bills were actually identified during the Oct. 10 LEDAC meeting, including the recently enacted Republic At (RA) 11934 on the mandatory registration of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) numbers of all cellular phone users, and RA 11935 postponing the Barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan elections (BSKE) to Oct. 30, 2023.
Villafuerte recalled that in a post-storm situation briefing after the onslaught of typhoon “Karding,” DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo told President Marcos of the importance of having evacuation centers in every municipality.
Tulfo informed the President that schools are often used as evacuation centers, thus disrupting classes whenever dislocated families are made to temporarily stay in these educational facilities.
The DSWD secretary told Mr. Marcos that, ”Ang isa pang hinihingi namin, kagaya po niyan, ‘pag gumanda na po ang panahon dahil ginagamit talaga mga eskwelahan as evacuation centers, we really need to have an evacuation center in every municipality lalo na po ‘yung mga typhoon, flood-prone areas.”
“Kasi pag maganda na ang panahon, nandoon pa rin ‘yung mga evacuees dahil nasira ang bahay nila. ‘Yung mga estudyante magsisiksikan sa ibang classrooms. Kaya ang talagang dapat po, mayroon tayong sariling evacuation center every time para hindi po nadi-disrupt ‘yung pag-aaral ng mga bata pag maganda na po ‘yung panahon,” Tulfo added.
In response, President Marcos tasked Tulfo during the situation briefing to study the average length of stay of evacuees in schools, as he said that the DSWD secretary raised a good point on this matter.
“Can you conduct a quick study how long does it take ‘yung mga partially damaged homes, completely damaged homes, how long does it normally take na makabalik sila, na umalis sila sa mga evacuation centers,” the President said.
Villafuerte said the establishment of permanent evacuations should be a congressional priority, “considering that with the absence of a fully committed, collective action by affluent nations to adequately bankroll climate action on drastically reducing the world’s carbon footprint—for the benefit of countries like the Philippines that are the most vulnerable to rising global temperatures—stronger typhoons, floodings and storm surges plus other erratic weather conditions are here to stay.”
He pointed out that in a recent study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) revealed that 49.3% of the population, or one out of every two Filipinos, was displaced by assorted disasters that occurred between 2010 and 2021.
In the report entitled “Disaster Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Business Case for Investment in Prevention and Solutions,” ADB and IDMC claimed that the Philippines accounted for almost 22% of all displacements, more than the combined contribution of Central and West Asia along with the Pacific.
“The Philippines has been the country most affected, as it experiences between 5 and 10 destructive tropical cyclones every year, making it one of the countries most at risk of extreme weather events in the Asia and Pacific region and globally,” according to the report.
It said the biggest disaster to hit the Philippines over the decade was typhoon “Haiyan” (or “Yolanda”) in 2013, which dislocated 4.1 million Filipinos, or 20% of the 19.7 million disaster displacements in the Asia-Pacific region that year.
The same ADB-IDMC report said the eruption of Taal Volcano in 2020 displaced 506,000 Filipinos, dislocating the most number of people from a volcanic eruption.
Villafuerte also cited the warning of wind dynamics expert Joshua Agar, a faculty member at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus, that climate change “increases the moisture on which typhoons feed upon,” hence scaling up the wind strength of typhoons.
Analyzing and mapping the past typhoons and rapid intensifications in the country, based on 1977-2021 data from the Japanese Meteorological Agency, Agar was quoted in a media report as saying that 322 of the past 1,148 typhoons had rapid intensification, which meant each of these had maximum sustained wind speeds of 0ver 92 kilometers per hour (kph) within a 24-hour period.
Villafuerte first pushed for the establishment of permanent evacuation centers nationwide after typhoon “Ompong” struck in September 2018.
With permanent evacuation centers around, Villafuerte the government could better achieve its zero-casualty goals in disaster risk management as it could go full-blast on preemptive evacuation, especially of people in coastal and mountainous villages.
