• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The 257 families living outside the 6-kilometer extended Kanlaon Volcano danger zone, that have been staying for almost six months at evacuation centers in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, are returning home on June 13.
This was after the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council approved on June 10 the request of 257 families, composed of 890 persons, to return to their respective residences in the sitios of Bais, Batacon and Labinsawan in Barangay Yubo, and those in sitios of Nailab and Tinin-awan in Barangay Ara-al, all in La Carlota City, as they have been staying in evacuation centers for about six months, Mayor Rex Jalandoon disclosed.
The move will enable schools currently serving as evacuation centers to resume full in-person classes by June 16, addressing the prolonged disruption in education, according to Jalandoon.
For nearly six months, La Carlota South Elementary School II, La Carlota North Elementary School, and La Carlota City College-Cubay Campus have been accommodating internally displaced persons (IDPs), limiting face-to-face classes to just two days a week, he added.
Jalandooon added that the shift to regular school operations will benefit both traditional learners and IDP students, who can now reintegrate into formal schooling.
He, however, said the remaining 62 families, composed of 226 individuals from Sitio Guintubdan in Barangay Ara-al, La Carlota City, which is within the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone, will be relocated to the City Evacuation Center and gymnasium to ensure their continued safety.
Alert Level 3 (magmatic unrest) remains hoisted over Kanlaon Volcano, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Ariel Nepomuceno, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), earlier confirmed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved an additional P200 million in financial assistance for local government units (LGUs) in the Negros Island Region affected by the eruption of Mount Kanlaon.
Jalandoon, however, said they have yet to receive a notice from the Department of Budget and Management on the availability of the funds.*
