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House bill to ensure free delivery
of relief goods in times of calamity
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The House of Repnesentatives
has approved on third and final
reading a bill seeking to provide
free fteight sendc€s to r€lieforga-
nizations in the transportation of
relief goods and donated articles
to calamity-stricken areas.
A total of 171 House members
voted in favor of House Bill 908?,
which guarantees the reliable,
speedy, and free transportation
reliefgoods during calamities and
disasters. Thebilhvas principally
author€d by San Jose del Monte
City R€p. Florida Robes.
Robes said the bill seeks to
ensure that adequate relief assis-
tanc€ is given to individuals and
communities heavily affected by
the disaster.
. 'As humans can only last
few days without food and wate4
relief operations are important. In
this case, response mechanisms
and guidelines must be geared
towards saving lives in the imme-
diate aftermath of any disaste4"
she said.
Under House Bill9087 or thb
"R€lief Goods Ftee llamporta-
tion Act", the Office of the Civil
Defense (OCD), in coordination
" P4q-u -1'l
\
: with the Philippine Fostal CorPo-
ration (PPC) and all freight com-
panies, common carriers, prhate
carriers, freight forwarders, and
other companies providing logis-
tic services in tlle Pbilippines, to
grant Aee fteiglrt services to duly
registered relief organizations in
the transportation of emergency
reliefgoods and donated articles
to areas declared to be in a state
of calamity
of Robes said common carriers,
freight forwarders, and other
similarentitiesshalldelivergoods -''
and services for free to areas
wheretleyoperate.'
'When the area is not accessi-
blesuch rclief goods shall be sent
or delivered to tlle nearest LGU
and consigned to tlte conderned
local chief executive," she said.
The bill mandates the Law
and order Cluster of the Na-
tional Disaster Risk Reduc-
. tion and Management Council
(NDRRMC) to provide secu-
rity and traffic managemei-'
assistance to the Response
Cluster's operations to facilitate
the speedy movement ofpeople,
goods and equipment to the af-
fected population and respon*
ing agencies.