Marcos says schools should no longer be evacuation centers
Credit to Author: Dominique Nicole Flores| Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2025 19:54:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of Filipinos flee to schools and local covered courts to seek shelter when floodwaters rise because many are designated evacuation centers. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said this should no longer be the case, at least for schools.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 28, Marcos said the government will be building more evacuation centers for times when the Philippines faces calamities like strong storms or hazardous volcanic eruptions.
However, what he wants to change is how hundreds of schools are designated as evacuation centers.
"Kasama ng mga mahahalagang imprastraktura, dadagdagan pa natin ang mga makabagong evacuation centers na ating naipatayo na. Hindi na dapat pang gamitin bilang evacuation center ang ating mga paaralan," Marcos said.
(Along with essential infrastructure, we will increase the number of modern evacuation centers that we have already built. Our schools should no longer be used as evacuation centers.)
According to the Department of Education, 442 schools across 10 regions serve as evacuation centers in the Philippines. This is despite classrooms also sustaining minor to major damage.
Marcos made this promise after weeks of heavy to torrential rain that battered parts of Luzon and Visayas due to cyclones "Crising," "Emong," "Dante" and the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat).
Around a hundred cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity due to the impact that most of their vulnerable communities have suffered.
Despite this, Marcos hailed the PAGASA's and Phivolcs' Doppler radars, broadband seismic stations and landslide sensor systems for providing early and accurate reports across the country.
He said that 11 local government units have also received help from Mobile Command and Control Vehicles of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Marcos, however, accused local government units of possible corruption, questioning the effectiveness of flood control projects despite billions of pesos in spending, as severe flooding continues to affect many areas.