• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) appears to be running against time in the completion of its contingency plan for the Mt. Kanlaon eruption affected areas.
La Castellana is the only local government unit (LGU) that has not submitted its contingency plan for the May 12 national and local elections.
Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec regional director for Negros Island Region, said yesterday that La Castellana has yet to finalize its election contingency plan while other LGUs have already submitted theirs to the Comelec.
“We are still waiting where La Castellana wants to evacuate its residents,” Castillano said on the sidelines of the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Center (PJSCC) meeting at Negros Residences in Bacolod City.
In the event the volcano’s status would be raised from Alert Level 3 to 4, there would be a need for the transfer of voting centers, adjustment of security forces deployment, among others.
In other LGUs, they were able to identify areas where to transfer the voting centers, Castillano said.
The transfer of voting centers needs the approval of the Comelec en banc, he added.
In case of another eruption, the Comelec is bent on pushing the holding of elections in Kanlaon affected areas to avoid delay in the proclamation of winning senators and partylist groups.
Castillano said that La Castellana Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan wants the affected town residents to be relocated in the town’s two other barangays.
However, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said they cannot all be accommodated in those two barangays, he added.
Should Alert Level 4 be declared, the OCD projects that 30,258 more individuals in La Castellana would be affected, on top of the 6,983 residents living within the six-kilometer radius danger zone, who are now staying in the evacuation centers.
Castillano admitted that he is not aware of the reasons why Mangilimutan appears to be hesitant to transfer the La Castellana residents to the “tent city” in Himamaylan City, which is nearing completion.
The Comelec and the OCD contingency plans rely on the local disaster office evacuation plans, he said.
Castillano tasked the PJSCC members, especially Provincial Elections Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria and the military and police officials, to talk with the concerned mayor.
“Within the month of March, we should have the final contingency plans,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Renato Gustilo said on Tuesday that the San Carlos City government is preparing three evacuation sites for the displaced residents.
They are developing the evacuation sites in the Codcod-Quezon area, a two-hectare land in Barangay Prosperidad and a three-hectare lot at the city property, he added.
The mayor said the city government is willing to accommodate as many people as they can.
Gustilo said they are putting up comfort rooms and water system as the clearing of the three areas are ongoing. | GB
