• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Four barangays of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental reported P952,196 in damage to high-value crops, following a minor explosive eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on April 8.
In a report submitted to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Provincial Agriculturist Dina Genzola said that 48 farmers tilling 34.76 hectares of high-value crops were affected.
Their farms are located in barangays Haguimit, Ara-al, Cubay, and La Granja.
Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), earlier said 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.
At present, there are 1,763 families with 5,678 members from La Castellana town and the cities of La Carlota and Bago, who have been living in evacuation centers since the eruption on Dec. 9 last year, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said.
Lacson said the provincial government will resume its fourth month of providing hot meals to the evacuees on April 24.
In its advisory, the Phivolcs said it recorded a 31-minute ash emission at Mt. Kanlaon, with plume as high as 600 meters, as of midnight of April 21. | GB
