Residents queue outside the gates of Malacañang Palace on September 29, 2009 to receive relief goods after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the palace gates be opened to floods survivors. (TED ALJIBE/AFP)

MANILA, September 29, 2009 (AFP) - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has thrown open her palace to shelter survivors from devastating floods that have affected nearly two million people in the Philippines.

Arroyo said that allowing the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila to become an evacuation centre and a distribution hub for emergency supplies after Saturday's devastating floods was her "contribution to the overall effort."

"Evacuees will be given shelter in available areas among the Malacañang buildings and in tents that will be put up in between the buildings," Arroyo said in a statement late on Monday.

"If required, our employees will yield their work stations to provide more space for our displaced countrymen."

Arroyo said she had temporarily moved office to the headquarters of the presidential security force in another section of the compound along the Pasig river.

Tropical storm Ketsana brought six-meter (20-foot) floods to Manila, the nation's capital, and surrounding provinces on Saturday.

At least 240 people were killed and 1.87 million others affected, according to the latest toll provided by the government.

The number of people sheltering in more than 600 evacuation camps, including the Malacanang palace, schools and gymnasiums, was 374,890, the government said, more than triple the figure on Monday.

The palace was built in the early 19th century as the official residence of the Spanish administrator during the colonial period.

It became infamous for the 3,000-plus shoe collection that Imelda Marcos left behind when a 1986 bloodless popular revolt ended the 20-year regime of her husband, Ferdinand Marcos.

Arroyo normally lives at the palace and receives heads of state there. It has been a rallying point for protesters, but members of the public are normally stopped from reaching it by a barrier 500 meters (yards) away.

Government officials admitted the dramatic opening of the palace for flood victims would pose a security headache.