Former Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol is pushing for monolithic dome-shaped structures in designing buildings following the recent onslaught of Typhoon Odette in Visayas and Mindanao on December 16, 2021.
“Given the experience we had with the destruction wrought by Typhoon Odette, I believe that the Monolithic Dome Program should be embraced by the national government, including the local government units, in designing the new buildings which would be built after the destruction,” Piñol said in a statement.
He suggested having a radical shift in the architectural design of government buildings and even private structures and homes in areas located in the path of the typhoons.
In 2018 he approved the funding and construction of the monolithic dome to serve as a grains and seeds warehouse in the Department of Agriculture Experimental Station in Iguig town Cagayan Province. The dome is climate-resilient storage for various agricultural products such as seeds and other farm inputs. It may also serve as an evacuation center during typhoons and disasters.
“The first monolithic dome constructed by a Filipino company with Polish engineers as consultants and could withstand Typhoon Signal 5,” Piñol said.
He said with a cost of P12 million, the first monolithic dome and six other smaller versions constructed in Region 2 withstood the strongest typhoons since their completion.
The Monolithic Dome Program was supposed to be expanded to other typhoon-prone regions of Eastern and Western Visayas, Bicol, Southern Tagalog including Mindoro, Central Luzon, Ilocos, and Cordillera Regions.
“Apart from that also said that to adapt, adjust and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change, there should be a national program to plant native trees, fruit trees, and bamboos in the deforested mountains of the country must be implemented through a law that would require every Filipino and every agency of government to participate. Also, the national land-use plan must be passed and implemented which would define areas for habitation, agricultural production, and total environmental protection,” the statement said.
