Residents of La Castellana, the hardest-hit local government unit by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Occidental, gather to witness the traditional Christmas “Lights On” ceremony at the town plaza Monday night (Dec. 23, 2024). Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan urged her constituents to pray for the volcano’s increasing unrest to stop. (Photo courtesy of Francis Ryan Basa Pabiania)
BACOLOD CITY – Two weeks after the explosive eruption of Mt. Kanlaon, residents of the hardest-hit municipality of La Castellana in Negros Occidental gathered at the plaza Monday night to officially usher in the Christmas celebration.
Mayor Rhummyla Nicor-Mangilimutan led the traditional “Lights On” ceremony, themed “Continents of the World,” only hours after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) issued a notice about the increased ash emission.
“I requested a meeting with the Office of the Civil Defense-Western Visayas, the Governor’s Office and the other local government units to allow us to switch on the Christmas lights even only at the town proper,” the mayor said in her message.
The municipal government hosts 6,289 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in nine active evacuation centers following the forced evacuation of the residents within the extended six-kilometer radius of the permanent danger zone.
The evacuees are mainly from the six villages at the volcano’s foot, including Biak na Bato, Cabagna-an, Camandag, Masulog, Mansalanao and Sag-ang.
The Dec. 9 explosive eruption was the second this year, after the first one on June 3, and it was followed by an increased ash emission on Monday noon.
“We prepared all these for you. Don’t expect something grand like before because this is already the third eruption. I must admit that if we have a faint heart, we could not overcome this, but I’m doing my best to ask for assistance for La Castellana,” Nicor-Mangilimutan told her constituents.
She noted that La Castellana’s local disaster risk reduction and management fund for the year is only more than P14 million, of which 30 percent, or P4.485 million, is being allocated as a Quick Response Fund.
“To provide food for the IDPs, the municipality has to spend nearly PHP1 million a day,” the mayor said.
Nicor-Mangilimutan said that despite all the challenges brought by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon, municipal government employees worked together to make the “Lights On” possible, bring even just a “little happiness,” and keep the Christmas spirit alive among the people of La Castellana.
“Let’s continue to fight despite the problems along the way. Let’s all pray for the increasing unrest of Mt. Kanlaon to stop,” she added.
The eruption earlier this month led the Phivolcs to raise the volcano’s alert level to 3 (magmatic unrest), which means “increased chances for sudden and even stronger explosive eruptions to occur and endanger communities at risk with life-threatening volcanic hazards.” (PNA)