GUINOBATAN, Albay?An entire village, which lies within the 6-kilometer radius danger zone from Mayon?s crater, has virtually relocated to an elementary school-turned-evacuation center here.

All 1,246 residents of Barangay Maninila, including their leaders, are now occupying 15 classrooms of the Travesia Elementary School in Barangay San Francisco. They brought with them their chapel, health center and barangay hall.

An image of Saint Anthony of Padua, the village?s patron saint, stands on a table adorned with flowers in one classroom converted into a chapel. At least 18 families are staying in the room.

?We have always brought [the image of] Saint Anthony here every time we evacuate, believing that he will spare us from misfortune,? said Renato Malto, barangay councilor.

Malto said they had one ?simbang gabi? (dawn Mass) in their village because they were ordered to leave the following day. ?Every night, a lay minister would come here to conduct a paraliturgy.?

Ordinances

At the one-hectare relocation site, the barangay council is also enforcing its ordinances, including curfew. Children should be in the rooms by 10 p.m., while watchmen or ?tanod? prevent outsiders from entering the premises after 9 p.m.

It is also forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages. Proper waste segregation is imposed.

Although its regular sessions are still held at the barangay site while Mayon is not yet fully erupting, the barangay council regularly meets every night at the evacuation center, discussing concerns of residents to prevent looting in their abandoned homes.

Instead of zone leaders, the council has assigned room leaders to register men who would return to the village to check on their properties and livestock, to ensure that the classrooms were clean and to attend to the immediate needs of room occupants.

Stores

Except for charcoal and copra producers, the villagers brought with them their sources of income.

Marivic Nove, 33, set up her store. ?I wouldn?t stay here for more than a month. I brought my sari-sari store, too, because I know how hard it is to make both ends meet in an evacuation center,? she said.

But, she said, she now earned more here because of more buyers. ?Children buy more often because there are so many of them. Here, I would earn as much as P300 a day. In our village, I only earn about P100,? she said.

Orila said both rich and poor families were sleeping together in the rooms. In the past, several villagers would rent temporary shelters or would choose to stay in their relatives? houses.

But in the case of Nove, she chose to stay in the evacuation center so she and her family could receive the daily ration of rice and other provisions.

Orila said it was difficult going back and forth to the village daily to get vegetables and firewood. ?We have to spend P30 a day for fare, and the cost is taking its toll on us. It?s good if the government would provide us with free rides so it is easy for us to get provisions from our village.?

He said the residents were thinking, too, of how they could start again once Mayon calms down.

Menacing presence

?While Mayon is erupting, we have to suspend our agricultural activities, which are our only sources of living. If Mayon damages our crops with this eruption, we would find it very hard to get back on our feet again.?

Orila said that while the people had seen Mayon as the most fitting landmark of Albay province for its world-famous beauty, they had also considered it a menace to their lives.

The only solution to their longtime woe is relocation, he said. ?But if ever we would be relocated, the government has to make sure that we would not lose the lands where we plant our crops. Farm-to-market roads and the access road to our village should be also improved.?

He also said that the soil on the flanks of Mayon was not that fertile. ?We still have to buy fertilizer so our crops would grow well,? he said.

But despite the relative comfort at the evacuation center, the villagers only have one wish: To be home for Christmas.