P6-M evacuation center in San Miguel town inaugurated

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1351440748635/p6-m-evacuation-center-in-san-miguel-town-inaugurated
• Tuesday, September 1, 2015

By Claro A. Lanipa (FPG/CAL/PIA-9)

SAN MIGUEL, Zamboanga del Sur, Sept. 1 (PIA) – As part of its disaster preparedness and in response to Republic Act 101201, also known as the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010, the municipal government formally inaugurated its newly constructed evacuation center worth P6 million last week.

Zamboanga del Sur Governor Antonio H. Cerilles led the ribbon cutting ceremonies with Ms. Emilia Vasquez-Julhajan, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)-9, Regional Director Sisinio Cano of the Department of Labor and Employment (D0LE)-9, Mayor Angelito Martinez II and other municipal officials.

Mayor Martinez said “the evacuation center is a multi-use, expedient facility which is not only aimed to provide shelter to people directly affected by an emergency, but also to cater to public events, activities and other significant undertakings of the town.

“The construction of the said building was mainly financed by local funds such as the five percent calamity fund and the 20 percent development fund with counterpart from DOLE’s TUPAD program of almost P1 million for the labor cost,” Martinez said.

Governor Cerilles lauded the municipality for its initiative of putting up the evacuation center, as he challenged the municipal officials to also make the necessary move for the establishment of a Regional Trial Court (RTC) building to attend to all the cases from the entire Baganian Peninsula, referring to the southern part of Zamboanga del Sur.

Meanwhile, Director Cano was also prodded by Governor Cerilles to help promote peace in San Miguel town by extending employment and livelihood support to the people in the area.

“We in the DOLE will give our all-out support to help our constituents here improve their living condition,” Cano promised.

For her part, Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-9 chief Emilia Vasquez-Julhajan said “this evacuation center is a very good example of a leadership in action, which means to say that your leader (Mayor Martinez) is looking after your future, your safety and the safety of your children’s children.”

“RA 101201 mandates everyone to be disaster resilient, and we from the OCD laud this very first evacuation center in the province. Hopefully there shall be more evacuation centers or alternate evacuation centers that would be put-up not only in San Miguel, but in all municipality in the province and in the region,” Julhajan added.

San Miguel was also awarded recently by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as a recipient of Seal of Good Local Governance for its commitment toward good local governance and for passing the local government assessment areas for the year 2014, namely, good financial housekeeping, disaster preparedness, business friendly and competitiveness, peace and order and environmental management.

Aside from the municipal officials, the said event was also attended by all the 28 barangay chairmen together with their respective barangay councilors.