• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The damage to high value crops in four barangays of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental, has been placed at P952,196.71, following a minor explosive eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on April 8, disclosed Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Monday.
In her report to the governor, Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola disclosed that 48 farmers tilling 34.76 hectares of high value crops in barangays of Haguimit, Ara-al, Cubay, and La Granja, La Carlota City, were affected by ash fall following the Kanlaon eruption.
Ma. Antonia Bornas, PHIVOLCS Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief, earlier said that the recent hours-long ash emissions and minor explosive eruptions at Mt. Kanlaon are all indications that the volcano is preparing for a major eruption.
There are presently 1,763 families or 5,678 individuals from La Castellana town and the cities of La Carlota and Bago who have been living in evacuation centers since the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon on Dec. 9 last year, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Lacson said the provincial government of Negros Occidental will resume on April 24 its fourth month of providing hot meals to the evacuees through its community kitchens, using the P50 million funds given by Malacañang.
Office of the Civil Defense Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno announced earlier that La Carlota City will receive P63 million in additional financial assistance from the Office of the President.
Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan also requested P714 million in financial assistance from the Office of the President, intended for immediate relief, relocation, and infrastructure development for the affected communities in La Castellana.
In an advisory, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported having recorded a 31 minute ash emission, with a plume as high as 600 meters from Kanlaon Volcano, as of midnight of April 21.*
