BAGO City in Negros Occidental is the first local government unit in Western Visayas to have its own regional evacuation center.
This is part of the priority projects of the Duterte administration that was implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Civil Defense Administrator Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad came to Bago City on November 16, to join Mayor Nicholas Yulo and other government agency representatives for the ceremonial turnover of the said facility, which aims to cater to the needs of the evacuees in times of emergency.
Jalad said that the facility is worth P36 million with the DPWH as the implementing agency.
There are four evacuation centers allotted for Negros and this is the first one in Bago City.
The turnover was witnessed by representatives from the Office of the Civil Defense, DPWH, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, and the Bago City local government unit.
“As to the direction of the National Risk Reduction and Management Council in implementing an effective emergency response, they are training the citizens in localities that are potential for evacuation on what to do during emergencies such as the occurrence of the landslide, flooding and any situation that requires voluntary or forced evacuation,” Jalad said.
“It has been the attitude of most Filipinos to resist evacuation even if they are already badly affected by typhoons and floods and landslide,” he said.
“We experienced resistance in Tuba, Benguet when we asked the people to evacuate as there was a danger of landslides. But since matatapang ang Pinoy, sometimes it is difficult to convince them to evacuate. But we are enforcing either preemptive or forced evacuation if necessary,” he said.
He further said that as to the use of the communication system during an emergency, there is a need to continuously improve as it helps us in the national level to have a situational awareness from the locals.
“We are very reliant on the cellphone. But the telecommunication system can also be hampered when it is affected by the strength of the typhoons. We have now the Government Emergency Communication System which is all communication equipment utilizing high and very high frequency and satellite data and voice which is placed inside the vehicle. Hopefully, all regions can have this kind of emergency equipment,” he said.
Rehabilitation and recovery
“We have a Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery plans for those areas affected recently by typhoons,” Jalad said.
“We need to improve when we make our plans and the validation of the different projects so that we can fast-track the release of the needed funds,” he said.
“Moreover, DPWH funded the construction of three evacuation centers per region since 2016,” Jalad said.
“We will continue to do it. In 2019, we will be seeking a new design for the evacuation center. President Rodrigo Duterte is interested in the creation of these evacuation centers. We lack the evacuation centers in the country as we are adopting a practice in Mexico and Cuba that they adopt families affected by disasters. I hope that we can also follow their model to address the lack of evacuation centers in the country,” he added.