Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the La Castellana town government will have to identify a relocation site for its residents who are prohibited from returning to their homes located in the four-kilometer permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano.
It will have to be determined if there is government land available for their relocation or if there is private land that can be purchased, Lacson said on Monday, June 24.
It is important that a probable site is identified, the governor said.
On Monday there were only 39 families with 116 members remaining in one La Castellana evacuation center, John de Asis, the town’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office
head, said.
They are residents of the permanent danger zone in sections of barangays Biak na Bato and Masulog, de Asis said.
He said they are looking for sites outside the permanent danger zones in the barangays where they came from where they can relocate.
La Castellana Mayor Rhummyla Mangilimutan has sought the help of the national government on the need for a permanent relocation site.
The Kanlaon Volcano explosion on June 3 initially caused 4,000 La Castellana residents to evacuate, but late last week the majority were allowed to return to their homes, de Asis said.*