• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental affected by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon stood their ground in allowing evacuees from outside the six-kilometer extended permanent danger zone to return home.
This, amid the urgent appeal of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to reconsider their decision.
OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno earlier urged the mayors of La Castellana town and Bago City in Negros Occidental to reassess their decision of allowing some evacuees to go home.
Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo said on Monday (Jan. 13) he has no plans to bring back to the evacuation centers those who have decamped since they are living outside the extended danger zone.
“That’s the policy we are following,” he added.
Yulo said that during a recent meeting of the Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, it was the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) itself that issued a statement that evacuees beyond the six-kilometer extended danger zone maybe allowed to go home.
Some 461 evacuees in Bago City already went home last week, according to City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Merijene Ortizo.
“Are they saying that they changed their policy, in so far as evacuation is concerned?” Yulo asked, stressing that the policy was for no human activity within the six-kilometer danger zone.
He admitted that the policy and protocol being exercised by the OCD have confused them.
“I think they should clarify the policy in relation to the evacuation protocol,” Yulo said.
Nepomuceno’s appeal to the affected LGUs to reassess their decision comes as the Phivolcs warned of the possibility of raising the alert status of Mt. Kanlaon to Level 4.
Should that occur, the permanent danger zone may be extended from six kilometers to 10 kilometers, the OCD chief said.
In La Castellana, 622 families with 1,969 members returned to their homes outside the six-kilometer danger zone, Mayor Alme Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said on Monday the provincial government supported the decision of the concerned mayors, which was agreed during a meeting with Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.
The residents living outside the extended danger zone volunteered to seek shelter in the evacuation centers due to the direct effects of ashfall, Diaz said.
“We cannot compel them where to go, especially when they have the options of where they can go,” he added.
For those within the extended danger zone as declared by Phivolcs, “we are compelled to evacuate and relocate them to evacuation centers by reason of their safety,” Diaz said.
“We always adhere to the advise of OCD and Phivolcs,” he said.
Diaz said there are still 4,437 evacuees staying in the La Castellana evacuation centers, 1,112 individuals in La Carlota City, and 50 others in Bago City. | GB
