• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
About 37 families composed of 100 individuals affected by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon have abandoned their evacuation center in La Castellana, Negros Occidental without the consent of the concerned local government unit.
Donato Sermeno III, regional director of Office of Civil Defense-Negros Island Region, said on Monday (June 30) the Regional Incident Management Team was dispatched to La Castellana to help resolve the situation.
The 37 families, who are residents of Barangay Cabagna-an, left the school used as evacuation center on board a cargo truck and other vehicles.
The evacuees were reported to have been complaining of poor accommodation and being already tired and fed up of staying in the evacuation centers, without clear plans from the national government.
Vice Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said efforts are being exerted for the return of the evacuees.
For Fifth District Rep. Emilio Benardino Yulo, the evacuees were “already physically tired, mentally disturbed, psychologically distressed, and sexually deprived”.
More than 4,000 residents within the six-kilometer danger zone were affected by the Mt. Kanlaon eruption since December 9 last year.
Yulo said there are no clear plans on what is going to happen in the next three or six months for the evacuees.
“I don’t think they will live in a tent city and abandon their source of livelihood,” Yulo said. | GB
