The Commission on Elections-Negros Island Region (Comelec-NIR) said yesterday it will ensure that over 100,000 registered voters in northern Negros can vote on May 12 even in the event of a major Mt. Kanlaon eruption.

Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-NIR director, said the poll body and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) signed a memorandum of agreement on May 1 outlining contingency measures for a possible Alert Level 4 scenario.

“We will make sure that these individuals can exercise their right of suffrage and cast their votes on Monday by providing them with alternative polling places,” he said.

However, Castillano pointed out that people’s safety must come first before the elections.

“If there will be a massive eruption on election day, it has to be safety first. Evacuation first, elections later,” Castillano said.

“We might have to postpone the elections within 30 days, and that is only if there is a massive eruption that would endanger the lives of the residents,” he added.

Castillano said voters would be transported to substitute voting centers on election day, assuming that a major eruption would cause a massive evacuation of residents within the enhanced 10- to 12-kilometer permanent danger zone.

Records at the Comelec-NIR office show that, in an Alert Level 4 scenario, a total of 37,690 voters in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental stand to be affected by a massive eruption on or before election day.

In Negros Occidental, a total of 75,771 voters in La Castellana, Bago City, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, and Murcia are also at risk.

Castillano said they are constantly monitoring the situation at Mt. Kanlaon after it exhibited low sulfur dioxide emission as reported by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, which could indicate a possible eruption. (PNA)