Alternative poll centers eyed in Negros Occidental town
WATER RATIONING Some residents of La Castellana, Negros Occidental, who have been evacuated to safer areas since the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Dec. 9, 2024, continue to get government aid, including water supply from La Castellana fire station on Tuesday. —La Castellan Fire Station Facebook photo
BACOLOD CITY, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has adopted the contingency plan for La Castellana town in Negros Occidental, the locality closest to restive Mt. Kanlaon, should the volcano have another hazardous eruption during the elections in May.
The plan includes allowing the poll body to set up polling centers in areas outside the 10-kilometer danger zone in La Castellana, said lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-Negros Island Region director.
READ: Kanlaon Volcano emits more sulfur dioxide, logs 15 quakes
Makeshift stations
Under the plan, the poll body will set up and operate makeshift polling stations within La Castellana even if alert level 4 will be declared. Alert level 4 means a magmatic process can progress into a highly hazardous eruption.
La Castellana Mayor Rhummyla Mangilimutan said the contingency plan submitted by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office would allow voting in the town, whatever the circumstances.
“Voters could be transported to polling centers if needed,” Mangilimutan said.
At least 1,362 families composed of 4,264 individuals from La Castellana were displaced by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon on Dec. 9, 2024, and have been staying in the different evacuation centers. They are from the 6-km danger zone around the volcano that is currently at alert level 3 (magmatic unrest).
They are among an estimated 10,000 residents in several localities in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental who are forced to remain in shelters as the volcano continues to be restive.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has prohibited residents within the 6-km danger zone from the summit from returning home, warning that with the volcano still restive, they face danger from lava flows, rockfalls, pyroclastic density currents and other related hazards.
