The La Castellana municipal government will have to find another permanent relocation site for residents within the four-kilometer permanent danger zone of Kanlaon Volcano.

This comes after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) disapproved the local government’s proposed site in Barangay Manghanoy for Kanlaon evacuees, La Castellana Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said.

Although the site is located more than 10 kilometers away from Kanlaon’s summit, Mangilimutan said it is still near the town’s sanitary landfill.

Based on MGB requirements, the resettlement area must be at least 250 meters away from the landfill’s boundary.

However, the proposed site is only 120 meters away.

Currently, the Office of the Civil Defense in Negros Island Region (OCD-NIR) is considering Barangays Talaptap and Lalagsan as potential sites for the permanent relocation.

Thirteen families or 36 individuals from the four-kilometer permanent danger zone in La Castellana’s Barangay Masulog will be relocated to the new site.

Earlier, OCD-NIR said the location of the proposed site must be approved by both the MGB and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology./WDJ