Kanlaon-hit LGUs to get additional P63-M cash assistance from OP

Mt. Kanlaon (file)

BACOLOD CITY – LGUs affected by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Island will soon receive P63 million in additional financial assistance from the Office of the President (OP).

“Parating na rin ‘yung karagdagang tulong na pinansiyal na galing ng Pangulong Bongbong Marcos. Iyan ay pirmado na namin lahat, hinihintay na lang natin ‘yan. Kailangan talaga alalayan, hindi talaga magiging sapat ‘yung pondo ng probinsiya, ng LGUs. Talagang kailangan tulungan rin ng (The additional financial assistance from President Bongbong Marcos is coming. We have all signed that, we are just waiting for it. The LGUs really need support, the funds of the province and the LGUs would not be enough. They really need the help of the) national government,” Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said in an interview during his visit to La Carlota City, Negros Occidental Friday.

Kanlaon Volcano’s latest explosive eruption on April 8 brought heavy ashfall that mainly affected several villages in La Carlota City.

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The OCD chief said the local chief executives in Negros Island requested the additional amount.

“Ipa-follow up na lang namin ‘yung pag-release pabalik dito sa mga nangangailangan nating mga kababayan. Sana ‘yun na ‘yun, kung kakailanganin pa may assurance naman tayo sa ating Pangulo na dadagdagan niya subalit kailangan nating bigyan ng tamang dokumento ‘yan (We will just follow up on the release back here to our people who need it. Hopefully that’s it. If more is still needed, we have assurances from our President that he will provide more, but we need to provide the correct documents),” he added.

Nepomuceno acknowledged that the Kanlaon-hit LGUs have already spent so much for the needs of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) since they were evacuated after the first eruption on Dec. 9 last year.

“Mahaba na, mahigit apat na buwan na tayo nag-operate dito. Talagang na-uubusan na rin sila ang pondo (It’s been a long time. We’ve been operating here for over four months. They’re really running out of funds),” he said.

Negros Occidental initially received PHP50-million financial assistance from the OP for the needs of the IDPs.

Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan of La Castellana, which has the most IDPs in evacuation centers, sent a letter to Malacañang requesting for financial assistance to sustain the daily needs of the evacuees.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, there were 1,770 families or 5,673 IDPs staying in 14 evacuation centers from Kanlaon-hit LGUs in Negros Occidental.

These include 1,362 families or 4,264 persons in La Castellana; La Carlota City, 327 families or 1,127 persons; San Carlos City, 59 families or 205 persons; and Bago City, 22 families or 77 persons, data of the Department of Social Welfare and Development showed.

Kanlaon Volcano remains under Alert Level 3 (magmatic unrest), which means the April 8 eruption “may be followed by similar short-lived explosive eruptions in the short term or even progress to lava eruptions that generate lava flows and lava fountaining activity,” according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. (PNA)