• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan yesterday clarified that they have completed their contingency plans for the Kanlaon Alert Level 4 scenario, as she also clarified that they are willing to have town residents to occupy the tent city in Himamaylan City.
Mangilimutan, however, said the tent city can only accommodate 395 families, stressing that about 10,000 families will be affected if the Kanlaon Volcano situation escalates.
While she is thankful for the accommodation of La Castellana residents at the tent city, the mayor said they are also targeting other local government units, such as Pontevedra, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, Kabankalan, highly urbanized Bacolod City, and the cities of Silay, Talisay, and Victorias, as evacuation sites.
Ma. Antonia V. Bornas, Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief, who was among the speakers at a Kanlaon Volcano risks and hazards communication seminar at the Social Hall of the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod City on February 19, disclosed that should an eruption occur, communities in the eastern and southern sides of the volcano could be affected.
Bornas said the highest hazard is in La Castellana, but it would also affect areas in the cities of Bago, La Carlota, and San Carlos in Negros Occidental, and Canlaon in Negros Oriental.
Task Force Kanlaon chief Raul Fernandez, who is also the Office of Civil Defense regional director for Western VIsayas, admitted that it is a major concern that La Castellana still has no final and approved contingency plan.
It is worrisome if not acted upon soon, Fernandez said.
While the mayor proposed that affected residents be evacuated to two barangays in her town, should the situation escalate, he added that the concerned local chief executive has yet to come up with specific evacuation sites yet that would need the approval of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Atty. Lionel Marco Castillano, Commission on Elections regional director for Negros Island Region, said they need the final contingency plans so that their own plans for the May 12 elections be also finalized by March.
Castillano said they need to establish where to set up polling centers for La Castellana residents if Alert Level 4 is declared as soon as possible, as this will need funding and the approval of the Comelec en banc.*
