EDITORIAL — Ligtas Pinoy Centers

School administrators will welcome the enactment of a law by President Marcos yesterday, mandating the establishment of evacuation centers in priority local government units. As the President himself noted, public schools have been serving “as default evacuation centers,” disrupting education long after the natural calamities that required evacuation have passed.

Republic Act 12076, the Ligtas Pinoy Centers Act, aims to provide climate-resilient facilities dedicated to evacuation purposes during disasters. The centers are supposed to be “fully equipped” – presumably with the basic needs for temporary accommodations such as adequate water and sanitation facilities, electricity, sufficient ventilation and telecommunications access.

“Schools are supposed to be sanctuaries for learning, creativity and growth; they should not also bear the burden of being makeshift shelters,” the President said as he signed RA 12076. “With the enactment of this law, we heed that appeal and commit to only using our schools for the promotion of our students’ welfare and development of the education system.”

Such evacuation centers are long overdue. The country’s eastern seaboard faces the Pacific Ocean and often bears the brunt of tropical cyclones that spawn cataclysmic flooding, deadly landslides and destructive storm surges. The monsoons also trigger heavy rainfall that cause flash floods and mudslides. Apart from weather disturbances, which have become increasingly powerful amid climate change, the archipelago sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active belt where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.

With the signing of the Ligtas Pinoy Centers Act, the President tasked the Department of Public Works and Highways “to ensure the timely construction” of the evacuation centers, which must meet the “required minimum standards” particularly in the National Building Code, and in consideration of the local governments’ unique needs.

The next step is to ensure that the best intentions of the new law are realized. Even in the areas battered by Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, resettlement housing remains inadequate, and in some areas unused by those who refuse to leave high-risk coastal communities. The new evacuation centers must meet the description of President Marcos, of being “fully equipped” and climate-resilient.