The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation said its P50-million evacuation center project in San Pablo City is under the government’s long-term response to climate change, which aims to promote resiliency among Filipinos.
SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna - A P50-million multipurpose evacuation center (MPEC) will soon be constructed in Barangay San Gregorio in this city, as a part of the local government’s long-term solution to address the effect of climate change.
This project was funded by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) as part of its efforts to provide safe and comfortable shelters in disaster-prone areas.
Pagcor Chief of Operations Alfredo Lim handed the P50-million check to City Mayor Loreto Amante during the groundbreaking and time capsule laying ceremonies held at the City Government Compound last May 7 during the commemoration of the 81st Founding Anniversary of San Pablo City.
In an interview, Lim said the project is under the government’s long-term response to climate change, which aims to promote resiliency among Filipinos, including San Pableños.
“The reason why we are concentrating on building evacuation centers, which could also be used for other purposes, is because, from our experience here in Laguna, we always have floods, landslide, and last year, volcanic eruptions. And of course, the project is a major gift to the city as it celebrates its 81st founding anniversary,” the Pagcor official added.
In accepting the gift in behalf of the city, Mayor Amante assured Pagcor of well-organized procedures for the construction of the building.
“Unlike the other provinces that are always swamped by heavy floods during heavy rains, what endangers our residents are the strong winds brought by typhoons, which forces us most of the time to evacuate them to schools and other places available. With the aid that we received from Pagcor, we can now have a permanent, safe and comfortable structure to house them whenever they need to be evacuated,” Amante said.
He added that the local engineering office is working on the procedures to meet the given timeline for the completion of the project.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Justin Colago said the contractor of the project will be assisted by a city’s project engineer, while the PAGCOR would also deploy technical consultants to check the quality of the project.
The two-storey MPEC will have provisions for kitchen area, storage areas for relief goods, toilet and shower rooms for male and female, clinic, lactating rooms for nursing mothers.
The MPEC is also designed to withstand strong wind and earthquakes.
It will also have a spacious badminton-court type area that may be used for sports events and other purposes when it is not being used as an evacuation center. (RT and RS)
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