• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Election appears to be running out of time as it aims to complete its election contingency plans needed to push through with the elections in areas affected by a Kanlaon eruption, as La Castellana is yet to submit its contingency plans.
Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for Negros Island Region, who attended the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Center meeting at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City, yesterday said that La Castellana has yet to finalize its election contingency plans, while other local government units have already submitted to the Comelec.
“We are still waiting where La Castellana wants to evacuate its residents,” Castillano said, as an Alert Level 4 declaration at Kanlaon Volcano will lead to the transfer of voting centers and adjustment of security forces deployment, among others.
In other LGUs, he said they were able to identify the areas to transfer voting centers, but not yet in La Castellana, with more than two months left before the May 12 elections.
The transfer of voting centers needs the approval of the Comelec en banc, Castillano said.
The Comelec is bent on pushing the holding of elections in Kanlaon affected areas, to avoid delays in the proclamation of winning senators and partylist groups.
Castillano disclosed that La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan wants the affected town residents, if possible, be relocated in the two of the town’s barangays, in case of another Kanlaon Volcano eruption.
But the Office of Civil Defense said they cannot all be accommodated in those two barangays, he added.
Should Alert Level 4 be declared, the OCD projects that 30,258 more individuals in La Castellana will be affected, on top of the 6,983 residents living within the six kilometer danger zone who are now staying in the town’s evacuation centers.
Castillano admitted that he is not aware of reasons why Mangilimutan appears to be hesitant to transfer La Castellana residents to the Himamaylan tent city, which is nearing completion.
He stressed that the Comelec and OCD contingency plans rely on the evacuation plans of the local disaster office.
Castillano tasked the PJSCC members, especially Provincial Election Supervisor Atty. Ian Lee Ananoria, Brig. Gen. Ted Dumosmog, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, and P/Col. Rainier de Chavez, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, to talk to the concerned mayor.
Within the month of March, we should have the final contingency plans, he stressed.
Based on the results of previous elections, following the COVID-19 pandemic, Castillano said “those who do well in handling the pandemic, won in the election. Those who did not do well in handling the pandemic, lost in elections.”
Those who will do well in handling the Kanlaon response, would likely win in these elections, he stressed, adding that “during times of disaster, people look up to their leaders.”
Asked on their preparations for the May 12 elections in Negros Island Region, Castillano said they are already 80 percent prepared.
SAN CARLOS CITY EVACUATION CENTERS
Mayor Renato Gustilo yesterday said that the San Carlos City government is preparing three evacuation sites for evacuees of a Kanlaon Volcano eruption.
Gustilo disclosed on Tuesday that the city government is developing the evacuation sites in the Codcod-Quezon area, a two-hectare area in Brgy. Prosperidad and another three hectare lot at the city property.
The mayor said they are willing to accommodate as many people as they can.
Gustilo said they are prioritizing the putting up of comfort rooms and water systems, as the clearing of those three areas are currently ongoing.*
