1,800 Kanlaon evacuees sent home

BACOLOD CITY — Faced with dwindling funds, authorities have allowed a total of 1,800 residents who have been staying at the evacuation centers since the eruption of Kanlaon in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, to return homes within the 6-kilometer (km) extended danger zone.

John de Asis, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management officer, said the municipal government could no longer afford to support them in the evacuation camps as its funds are already drained.

De Asis said the residents staying in three evacuation centers were allowed to go home on recommendation of the incident management team, and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The residents have been staying in the evacuation centers since the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano in December last year.

De Asis said some evacuees returned to their homes near the highway beyond the 5.2-km radius zone from the summit while the others were staying in family tents in two identified camp sites in Barangay Cabagna-an.

For more than seven months now, the municipal government and the Negros Occidental provincial government have taken turns in feeding more than 3,200 evacuees.

They were also provided food packs by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

There are still about 1,400 internally displaced persons, who are residents of Barangay Biak Na Bato, Masulog and Mansalanao, who are occupying the evacuation centers in the town proper.

Two weeks ago, some 37 families left their evacuation center without the consent of the municipal government due to poor accommodations and being fed up with staying in the temporary shelter.

Donato Sermeno III, regional director of Office of Civil Defense-Negros Island Region, said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said there should be no human activity within the 6-km extended danger zone.

However, Sermeno, said the concerned local government unit (LGU) has the final say as they respect their autonomy.

Kanlaon Volcano remains under Alert Level 3 since its eruption last Dec. 9, indicating that “magmatic eruption has begun and may progress to further explosive eruptions.” Mayor Añejo Nicor has appealed to the national government to help the evacuees of his town.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the release of P48,521,000 for La Castellana in May, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has yet to download the funds to the LGU, Nicor said.

The mayor said they submitted the necessary documents to the DBM twice but have not received any response.

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said they want to continue the Capitol community kitchen, which is serving hot meals to evacuees, using the remaining funds of the P50 million given to them earlier by the national government.