BACOLOD CITY – Almost 1,700 farmers in five barangays in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental were affected by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano on Monday night, June 3.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, June 4, Mayor Jose Chubasco Cardenas said that there were 655 farmers in Barangay Pula, 290 in Barangay Masulog, 396 in Barangay Malaiba, 291 in Barangay Lumapao, and 48 in Barangay Linothangan who are affected.

SUGARCANE farmers tend to their field in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental on Tuesday morning, June 4, with Kanlaon Volcano on the background. (Photo courtesy of Donald Garsula via Canlaon City Online) 

Cardenas said the city has an appropriation for assistance for farmers and said they will submit the list and will hold a meeting with the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“We will be plotting strategies and systematic approaches on how to give the assistance to the farmers affected in the eruption,” the mayor said.

Cardenas thanked the provincial government and congressmen in the districts of the province for helping the city in assuring that the necessary support will be extended to the people of Canlaon as the local government cannot finance all of these alone.

Gov. Manuel Sagarbarria said the provincial government has an allocation for 2,000 farmers in Canlaon as the province is currently under a state of calamity due to the El Niño phenomenon.

“Although it has not yet released, we are planning to give a half sack of rice to each affected farmer. We will just have to double time the releasing so that we can give the immediate support during this time of crisis,” he added.

Sagarbarria said that they will prioritize Canlaon once the resources are available.

The governor also said that the provincial government has provided food packs and hygiene kits to the city as well as augmented five mini-dump trucks which helped transporting evacuees to evacuation centers. “I’ll leave it here (Canlaon) for a few days if something gets worst,” he added.

Sagarbarria said that he has deployed ambulances to augment the Canlaon District Hospital.

“The hospitals are prepared and we have also augmented medicines from other hospitals, including doctors, oxygen tanks, and all that may be needed during this time,” he added.

“We can quickly purchase whatever we can, whatever is needed that we see, we can add more because technically, we are under a state of emergency from a previous calamity,” he said.

The city government of Canlaon has activated its incident command system and coordinated with various hospitals in neighboring areas. 

“I instructed health personnel to visit the five barangays to see to it if the sulfur odor is still present. We will advise those with comorbidities to go down to the evacuation centers,” Cardenas said.

Cardenas said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is ready to enforce a mandatory evacuation if needed, adding that they have standby vehicles to be used if there is a need to transport residents to evacuation centers in the city proper.