After close to eight months of living in evacuation centers, more than 1,400 residents of Canlaon City finally started returning home on Thursday, July 31.
“It’s like the 4th of July for them,” said Canlaon City Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas, describing the evacuees’ joy at being able to leave the evacuation centers.
The move came after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) lowered Kanlaon Volcano’s alert status from Level 3 to Level 2 on Tuesday, July 29.
This allowed residents to return to their homes located outside the 4-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ).
The lowered alert level also means that eight schools within the previously 6-kilometer extended danger zone can now reopen, Raul Fernandez, Regional Task Force Kanlaon head and Office of Civil Defense 6 regional director, said.
Four of these schools are in Canlaon City: Matagbak, Concepcion Palmares, and Minabuntod elementary schools, and Pula National High School.
The other four are in La Castellana: Mananawin, Old Fabrica, and Cabagnaan elementary schools, and Cabagnaan High School, Fernandez said.
Cardenas said the 590 Canlaon City families who returned home are from the barangays of Masulog, Pula, Malaiba, Lumapao, and Linothangan.
Some families who lived beyond the 4-kilometer PDZ have chosen not to return home, Cardenas said.
The 47 families with 147 members, who lived inside the PDZ, will be permanently relocated to Barangay Mabigo, he added.
For those returning to their homes outside the 4.2-kilometer mark, the city is providing roofing materials. The ash and sulfur emissions from the volcano had caused many roofs to corrode and leak, he said.
Canlaon City is also seeking P500 million from the national government to build a permanent relocation site in Barangay Binalbagan for evacuees during future calamities.
LA CASTELLANA
In La Castellana, 471 families with 1,586 members will begin returning to their homes outside the 4-kilometer PDZ on Friday.
John de Asis, head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), said the La Castellana Sangguniang Bayan passed a resolution granting the return of the evacuees.
He also said some evacuees do not want to go home.
LA CARLOTA
La Carlota City Mayor Jose Luis Jalandoni said his city will ensure its more than 200 evacuees have homes to return to before they leave evacuation centers, as their residences may have been damaged by the volcanic activity.*