LAGUNA – The local government unit (LGU) of Biñan inaugurated on Monday, March 27, its new Command, Control, and Communication (C3) Center built with volcanic ash blocks from the 2020 Taal Volcano eruption.

The building will serve as the headquarter of the Biñan City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (BCDRRMO).

“Ito ay idine-dedicate natin sa mga kababayan nating mangangailangan nang tulong. Idine-dedicate din natin ito sa mga volunteers natin, sa firefighters natin, sa rescuers natin (We are dedicating this to our fellowmen who will need help. We are also dedicating this to our volunteers, firefighters, and rescuers),” Mayor Arman Dimaguila said during the inauguration.

Also present were Vice Mayor Gel Alonte, Prof. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, and Office of Civil Defense 4A representatives.

Photo from Biñan City Information Office (MANILA BULLETIN)

The new three-storey building with a rooftop deck houses a CCTV monitoring room connected to more than 160 cameras all over the city, including a 140-feet high Eagle Eye surveillance equipment that can monitor events within Biñan, as well as other parts of Laguna and Muntinlupa.

The building also houses a call center, a conference room, and a training room where free basic life support and medical training sessions will be conducted.

Rising from the ashes

The C3 Center was partly built using eco-hollow blocks and bricks made from recycled plastic materials and volcanic ash collected from the Taal Volcano eruption in 2020. These materials were developed by the LGU’s Material Recovery Facility.

Photo from Biñan City Information Office (MANILA BULLETIN)

In a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin on Tuesday, March 28, BCDRRMO Head Maria Bonacua said around 50 percent of the construction materials used for the new building were sourced from volcanic ashes and recycled materials.

“Nakita po namin 'yung halaga ng abo na pinagsama po namin, may components po 'yun, may sand, semento, at yung nire-recycle namin na mga basura, hanggang sa makabuo po kami ng bricks (We saw the value of ashes and we combined them with other components like sand, cement, and recycled waste, until we came up with bricks),” Bonacua said.

“Talagang mari-realize nang tao na ang lahat pala nang bagay na naka-damage sa atin, kung titingnan natin at babalikan, ay pwedeng makatulong pala (People will realize that some of those that caused damage to us, if we look at them in hindsight, they can also help).”

The LGU’s eco-hollow blocks and bricks are also being used to build walkways in public schools.

Bonacua says the LGU sells eco-bricks to non-Biñan residents at a low price, the proceeds of which are donated to communities devastated by the 2020 volcanic eruption.