La Castellana staff meet to address the escape problem.*La Castellana PIO photo
The person who allegedly persuaded internally displaced persons (IDPs) to escape from their evacuation camp and return to their homes in the 6-kilometer Mt. Kanlaon expanded danger zone in Barangay Cabagnaan, La Castellana, has apologized.
The person who caused 89 IDP’S to commit a crime by returning to their homes without proper permission apologized, a post on the Facebook page of the La Castellana municipal government said.
However, the person who posted a video of the IDPs returning home has not surfaced, it said.
Some IDPs had started returning to their evacuation center Tuesday night and more are expected on Wednesday, the post said.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said if the IDPs decided to go back on their own he cannot blame them as they have been living in evacuation centers for months.
Efforts are being made to make them understand why they have to continue to stay in evacuation centers, he said.
Kanlaon is under Alert Level 3, which means that the volcano is in a state of magmatic unrest, with chances of eruptions occurring that could generate life-threatening volcanic hazards, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has warned.
It is recommended that communities within a 6-km radius from the summit crater remain evacuated due to the danger of pyroclastic density currents or PDCs, ballistic projectiles, ashfall, rockfall and other related hazards, it added. *