Two weeks after the explosive eruption of Mt. Kanlaon, residents of the hardest-hit municipality of La Castellana in Negros Occidental gathered at the plaza on Monday night, December 23, to officially usher in the Christmas celebration.
Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan led the traditional “Lights On” ceremony themed “Continents of the World” only hours after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) issued a notice on the increased ash emission.
“I earlier requested a meeting with the Office of the Civil Defense-Western Visayas, the Governor’s Office and the other local government units to allow us to switch on the Christmas lights even only at the town proper,” the mayor said in her message.
The municipal government hosts 6,289 internally-displaced persons (IDPs) in nine active evacuation centers, following the forced evacuation of the residents within the extended six-kilometer radius permanent danger zone.
The evacuees are mainly from the six villages located at the foot of the volcano, including Biak na Bato, Cabagna-an, Camandag, Masulog, Mansalanao, and Sag-ang.
The December 9 explosive eruption was the second this year, after the first one on June 3, followed by the increased ash emissions on Monday noon.
“We prepared all these for you, just don’t expect something grand as before because this is already the third eruption. I must admit that if we have a faint heart, we could not overcome this, but I’m doing my best to ask for assistance for La Castellana,” Nicor-Mangilimutan told her constituents.
She noted that La Castellana’s local disaster risk reduction and management fund for the year is only more than P14 million, of which 30 percent or P4.485 million is being allocated as quick response fund.
“To provide food for the IDPs, the municipality has to spend nearly P1 million a day,” the mayor said.
Nicor-Mangilimutan said that despite all the challenges brought by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon, employees of the municipal government worked together to make the “Lights On” possible and bring even just a “little happiness” and keep the Christmas spirit alive among the people of La Castellana.
“Let’s continue to fight despite the problems along the way. Let’s all pray for the increasing unrest of Mt. Kanlaon to stop,” she added.
The eruption earlier this month led the Phivolcs to raise the volcano’s alert level to 3 (magmatic unrest), which means “increased chances for sudden and even stronger explosive eruptions to occur and endanger communities at risk with life-threatening volcanic hazards.” (PNA)