BACOLOD CITY – The provincial government of Negros Occidental ended on Monday, Jan. 6, its 14-day feeding program for thousands of individuals displaced by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano and volunteers, peacekeepers, and social workers in various evacuation centers.
A COMMUNITY kitchen established by the provincial government of Negros Occidental serves Kanlaon Volcano evacuees. (Photo courtesy via Capitol PIO)
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said mayors of La Castellana town and the cities of Bago and La Carlota agreed during their last meeting with the Office of the Civil Defense that the provincial government will only subsidize the food of the evacuees and personnel in evacuation centers for two weeks.
“We did that already. We complied and succeeded,” Diaz said, adding that evacuees have been nutritionally replenished and were happy with their food in the past two weeks.
Diaz said that support targeted to cover about 8,000 evacuees but the provincial government included personnel in the evacuation camps that benefited a total of about 10,000 individuals.
He said that the three LGUs will now be in charge of the food of the evacuees.
Diaz said that LGUs may now use their funds for this year to provide food for evacuees with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
He said that the province’s community kitchen will continue to operate in evacuation centers but will be maintained by the LGUs. He added that the province would only provide cooking sets and gas.
The OCD reported that a total of 12,223 families or 46,781 individuals have been affected by the Dec. 9 eruption of the Kanlaon in Regions 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas).
La Castellana has nine evacuation sites, Bago City, seven, and La Carlota City, five. Canlaon City in Negros Oriental has 10 evacuation camps.