• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Mayor Añejo Nicor will push for permanent relocation sites for La Castellana citizens residing within the permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano.
For more than six months, more than 4,000 La Castellana residents who were affected by the Kanlaon Volcano eruptions, have been staying either in evacuation centers, or with their relatives.
Nicor, who replaced his sibling, Alme Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan, as mayor of La Castellana, took his oath of office on June 27, before the town barangay captains, in the presence of Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Representative Emilio Bernardino Yulo, among other government officials.
The new mayor of La Castellana also solicited the help of the Office of Civil Defense and Negros Occidental provincial government in the realization of permanent relocation sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The 4,000 La Castellana IDPs had established residences within the six kilometer extended danger zone of La Castellana.
Farmers are currently allowed by OCD to enter the permanent danger zone only from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. to carry out essential activities, if the situation permits.
The provincial government is negotiating with two landowners for the purchase of their respective properties, to be used as relocation sites for the IDPs.
Nicor also called on his political opponents to rally with him for the further development of La Castellana, and forget politics, as the May 12 elections are already over.
His sister, outgoing Mayor Mangilimutan, who will replace her father, Alberto Nicor, as vice mayor of La Castellana, thanked their supporters and municipal employees, among others, for the support they extended to her administration and that of her father.
Mangilimutan is hopeful they will extend the same support to the administration of her brother, Añejo Nicor.
While she almost completed and implemented the major infrastructure projects she envisioned for La Castellana, Mangilimutan said she wants her brother to further develop the Colegio de La Castellana, in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education, and also the municipal hospital.
She acknowledged the help of Governor Lacson and Rep. Yulo for making La Castellana a prosperous town.*
