On Thursday, hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, returned to their homes near Mt. Kanlaon, while the local government unit (LGU) committed to supporting those still in evacuation centers. Seth Cabanas Bariga, information officer for the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), stated that the LGU will address the needs of returning families, with barangays taking the lead in supervising and monitoring the evacuation centers.
“The barangays now have the primary task of supervising and monitoring the evacuation centers as stipulated by the law, but the city government has the resources to cover food and other necessities,” Bariga explained. He assured that agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will continue to participate in relief and rehabilitation efforts.
Initially, the EOC identified 1,791 families permitted to return home, while 45 families remained in evacuation centers. IDPs were transported back to their homes using government-owned trucks and private vehicles. Only those living outside the 4-km Permanent Danger Zone were allowed to return after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) downgraded the volcano’s status from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2.
The IDPs had been residing in evacuation centers for eight months following the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon on December 9, 2024. Bariga noted that a final headcount of those who have returned home was not yet available, as the “exodus” was still ongoing at the time of the report.