President Arroyo Friday placed the entire country under a state of calamity as the nation, already struggling from the devastation spawned by storm Ondoy, braces for a stronger typhoon.

The President imposed price ceilings on basic commodities to protect consumers as well as empowered local government executives to utilize their calamity funds in anticipation of another disaster.

The declaration of a nationwide state of calamity was reached during the National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting at the municipal hall of Cainta, Rizal where the President and her cabinet tackled preparations, including forced evacuations, in areas in the path of new typhoon Pepeng.

“President Arroyo approved the NDCC recommendation to declare a state of calamity in the entire country,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said, emerging from the closed-door executive session of the NDCC assembly.

“This is an anticipatory move so all local government units are prepared in case the storm hits their communities,” he added.

Remonde said the lifting of the state of calamity declaration will depend on the rescue and relief operations from storms Pepeng and Ondoy. “This is not going to take long,” he later told reporters in the Palace.

Having access to the automatic 5 percent calamity fund in their annual budgets will help local government units to take precautions and hopefully save more lives and properties, according to Remonde.

Under state of calamity, Remonde said the government could also effectively implement price ceiling on food, medicines, and construction materials.

At the NDCC meeting, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said he has deputized market administrators, accompanied by National Bureau of Investigation agents, to enforce ceiling prices for basic goods.

Favila said the proposed price controls on lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas, car repair shops, and funeral parlors are still under study by the Department of Justice.

The President also said the government must now look into the relocation of thousands of families who lost their homes to Ondoy, particularly those in National Capital Region and Rizal.

Vice President Noli de Castro cited a list of empty government lots in Bulacan, Laguna, and Montalban, Rizal for the evacuees. The President directed authorities to buy nipa huts at P25,000 each while waiting for the construction of houses.