MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday, December 6, signed the Ligtas Pinoy Centers Act, requiring evacuation centers in every city and municipality across the country.
The Ligtas Pinoy Centers Act requires each city and municipality in the country to build a fully equipped evacuation center that can withstand super typhoons and is located away from hazard-prone areas.
Marcos said public schools, often used as evacuation centers when disaster strikes, “should not bear the burden of being makeshift shelters.”
“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,” Marcos said on Friday.
The Department of Education allows the use of public schools as evacuation centers for a maximum of 15 days.
“This legislation is a game changer not only for our disaster response but also for public education,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement on Friday.
“It addresses a long-standing issue of public schools being used as evacuation centers. With this law, we can ensure that learning recovery can immediately take place after disasters.”
Deferring student loan collections
Another law that the President signed was the Student Loan Payment Moratorium During Disasters and Emergencies Act, which defers student loan collections during and after disasters.
“It is our hope that this law will help lessen the financial burden off our students’ shoulders as they continue their schooling,” Marcos said.
Dinagat Islands Representative Alan 1 Ecleo, who was one of the principal authors of both bills in the lower chamber, said the signing of the laws is “a win for all….especially the poor and the most vulnerable.”
“Nothing should hinder students from completing their education: not poverty nor calamity,” Ecleo said in a statement on Friday.
This story will be updated with the salient points of both laws once copies are made available to the public. – Rappler.com