• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
As the release of more than P200 million in funds promised by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to local government units affected by the Kanlaon Volcano eruption remains in limbo, the Negros Occidental provincial government will utilize P5.8 million from its disaster funds to feed the remaining internally displaced persons (IDPs) in evacuation centers for one more month.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the remaining P2.8 million, which is part of the P50 million given by Malacañang, will be utilized for other needs, stressing that it is not enough to cover the food of IDPs for one month.
There are about 1,400 residents of barangays Biak Na Bato, Masulog, and Mansalanao in La Castellana who are still occupying evacuation centers at the La Castellana town población, while 62 other families, or 226 individuals, from Sitio Guintubdan, Barangay Ara-al, which is within the six-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ), are staying at the La Carlota City evacuation center.
“We are now on our 6th wave of the community kitchen. We will continue to do that, if there’s a need to do so,” Lacson said.
Kanlaon Volcano is currently under Alert Level 3, indicating magmatic unrest.
The Office of Civil Defense has been discouraging the return of IDPs in La Castellana to their homes inside the six-kilometer extended danger zone.
“But we also had to consider the sentiments of evacuees. But they are also aware that, if there is really a need to get them out again, then we will do so,” Lacson said.
Two weeks ago, about 1,800 IDPs in La Castellana returned to their respective areas located within the extended danger zone, allowed by the municipal government which could no longer afford to support them in the evacuation centers.*
