Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson led the Technical Working Group meeting on Monday for the formulation of a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for areas affected by the recent Mt. Kanlaon activity.*
The Negros Occidental provincial government is negotiating to buy an 8-hectare property in Barangay Talaptap, La Castellana.
This land will be a permanent relocation site for residents living within the 6-kilometer danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Tuesday, July 15.
Lacson led a Technical Working Group meeting at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City on Monday for the formulation of a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for areas affected by Kanlaon Volcano’s unrest.
The provincial government is currently in talks with a landowner to purchase the 8-hectare lot, which is located near a school, he said.
This new site can accommodate 200 families, providing space for their homes and farm lots, the governor said, adding that he hopes to finalize the land purchase this year.
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council will be responsible for developing the land and providing housing, Lacson said.
The governor said he is bent on buying the property because if the permanent relocation site is outside the 6-kilometer danger zone residents will not have to keep on evacuating when Kanlaon is placed under Alert Level 3.
“We have to learn something from this calamity, and by securing them away from Mt. Kanlaon, I think is the most logical thing that we can do,” he said.
Meanwhile, the provincial government community kitchen will continue to provide meals for residents still in evacuation centers in La Castellana.
The provincial government still has P2.8 million remaining from the P50 million provided by Malacañang, which will be used for this feeding program, he said.
On the recent return of 1,800 evacuees to their homes beyond 5.2 kilometers of Kanlaon Volcano, which is still within the danger zone, Lacson said that decision is up to the local government unit.*