• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. “window scheme” of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), the period which allows farmers to harvest their crops within the four- to-six-kilometer permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano, is not applicable to the sugar industry, Negros Occidental Fifth District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo III said.
“It is not applicable to the present situation on how the harvesting of sugarcane is done,” Yulo, who used to be a board member of the Sugar Regulatory Administration, representing the sugar planters’, said on Saturday.
The Task Force Kanlaon has allowed the supervised farming activities in the danger zone between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. to help farmers in La Castellana, Negros Occidental sustain their livelihood, particularly during the harvest season.
Usually, sugarcanes are being cut by laborers in the afternoon for stocking. As early as 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., they start loading the canes in trucks.
That is not the window hours allowed by OCD, Yulo said.
“It’s going to create a problem,” Yulo said, citing a 60-hectare area of sugarcane up for harvesting.
While he already brought up the problem to SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona for a solution, Yulo suggested a “dagyaw”, or “bayanihan”, a Filipino tradition of working together to achieve a shared objective.
Thousands of Kanlaon evacuees, residing within the permanent danger zone of the volcano have yet to return home since the explosive eruption on Dec. 9.
Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Kanlaon Volcano. | GB
