WITH this year’s first tropical depression driving over 12,000 people out of their homes in Bicol, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Thursday appealed to the Senate leadership to prioritize the passage of a bill establishing disaster-resilient evacuation centers nationwide.
Villafuerte, a former Camarines Sur governor, cited the urgency for the Senate to pass its version of the House-approved measure—House Bill (HB) 7354—that calls for the establishment of temporary shelters in every city and municipality for the benefit of underprivileged families who suffer the most during typhoons, tremblers and other natural hazards.
Villafuerte made the appeal to fellow legislators as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said 10 to 14 tropical cyclones are expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility between May and October this year, of which two to four of them due in July.
This year’s first cyclone–Typhoon Amang–struck this April, sending some 12,000 people fleeing their homes in Bicol.
“That tropical depression ‘Amang’ had driven over 12,000 people in our region out of their homes this month points anew to the urgency for the Congress to write new legislation putting up permanent evacuation centers all over the country for people who have been forced to flee their homes by disasters, calamities, floods, storm surges and other severe climate disturbances, as well as fire, and the outbreak of diseases that pose imminent danger to life and property,” Villafuerte said.