• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Negros Occidental is finalizing its contingency plans in order to push through the May 2025 polls, despite threats posed by a restive Kanlaon volcano.
Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, disclosed yesterday that their contingency plans will largely be dependent on the Office of Civil Defense, local disaster councils of affected local government units, and PHIVOLCS, among other government agencies.
Our plans are dependent on where the people will be evacuated if there is an evacuation. It also depends on the level of eruption, Ananoria said.
Lionel Marco Castillano, chief of the Comelec-Negros Island Region, said that security centers in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental were given one month to come up with contingency plans, subject to the approval of the NIR joint security coordinating center.
“Our plan is to conduct the elections where the evacuees are,” Castillano said, noting that the transfer of voting precincts will need a resolution of the Comelec.
Ananoria said they will be coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils, for the establishment of “contingent polling centers” in schools.
In an advisory issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Jan. 16, state volcanologists recorded two more emission events at Kanlaon volcano with lengths of 14 to 22 minutes long, and 13 volcanic quakes, including two volcanic tremors.
If evacuation centers will be tapped as polling centers, Ananoria said they will further come up with makeshift polling centers, even if Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Kanlaon volcano.*