• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Office of the Civil Defense-Region 6 wants the strict enforcement of the four-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) surrounding Mt. Kanlaon, following its eruption on June 3.
OCD-6 Regional Director Raul Fernandez said on Thursday (June 13) that there should be no people or human activity in the area, if Alert Level 2 is raised by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
“We are not the one who will enforce it but Phivolcs, based on its scientific data,” Fernandez said, stressing the need for relocation of families residing at the PDZ.
He confirmed on Thursday that 1,362 individuals, composed of 427 families, who are residents of Barangay Mansalanao in La Castellana, have already returned home.
However, there is no clearance yet for residents of Barangay Biak Na Bato to return to their respective residences.
Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said that the situation in Barangay Mansalanao, which is not within the Mt. Kanlaon danger zone, is now back to normal.
OCD-6 records showed that there are still 4,785 persons temporarily staying inside and outside of evacuation centers in La Castellana.
Some of the displaced families were brought to an evacuation center in the neighboring Binalbagan.
The eruption of Mt. Kanlaon has affected 1,752 families, composed of 6,119 persons, living in 20 barangays of various local government units located at the foot of the volcano.
In a meeting held at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, Fernandez said he had asked Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga for the continuing testing of air and water quality in the surrounding communities of Mt. Kanlaon. | GB
