It has already been more than a year since the Kanlaon Volcano erupted, prompting evacuations in affected areas, and up to now, many of those internally displaced persons are still staying in public schools that have been turned into evacuation centers.
As the rest of the country prepares for the opening of another school year, the seriousness of the situation in Kanlaon-affected areas has been exposed further, as the Department of Education is now expecting thousands of students to be affected by the lack of classrooms.
There are not enough classrooms for classes because aside from schools still being used as evacuation centers, there are also schools within the 6-kilometer permanent danger zone that can no longer be accessed by the residents who have been evacuated.
According to Ian Arnold Arnaez, spokesperson of the Negros Occidental DepEd Division Office, there is a DepEd policy that schools can only be used as evacuation centers for 15 days. Beyond that, local government units must provide plans for relocating the evacuees. It has been more than 365 days, but up to now, there are still no relocation sites and it would seem that government has not been able to provide, or more importantly, implement those plans.
The Kanlaon situation will not end soon. Unless there is a miracle, the danger zone will remain as such for an indefinite period. That is a fact that our government must’ve realized after a few months of unrest. As usual, it is already too late, but long term arrangements must be made for the internally displaced persons to be relocated, so schools, and life in general, can return to as close to normal for those affected.
Whether it’s building more classrooms to turn into evacuation centers, or building a permanent and better equipped evacuation center, or building relocation sites for the IDPs, our local and national government shouldn’t have waited an entire year, and another school year to start, before springing into action.*
