22 Kanlaon-displaced families in Bago City receive aid before returning home
MAYOR Marina Javellana-Yao turns over P10,000 financial aid each to 22 families displaced by Kanlaon Volcano in Bago City, Negros Occidental, during her visit to the Payag sang Kapag-on Village in Barangay Napoles on Thursday, Aug. 14. (Photo via Citybridge)
BACOLOD CITY – Twenty-two families from Bago City, Negros Occidental displaced by Kanlaon Volcano each received P10,000 in financial assistance from the city government on Thursday, Aug. 14, two days before their scheduled return to their homes in Barangay Ilijan on Saturday, Aug. 16.
Mayor Marina Javellana-Yao personally handed out the amount at the Payag sang Kapag-on Village in Barangay Napoles where the evacuees had been staying temporarily.
The assistance came from the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Fund.
“This is to show them that the local government hasn’t forgotten about them,” Yao said.
These families had been living in resettlement for months, staying in modernized nipa huts, since the eruption of the volcano in December last year.
The financial aid is intended to help them rebuild and return to normal life.
“I hope this small help shows that we care and want them to be able to start over,” the mayor said.
In addition to the cash aid, the city government is also providing roofing and housing materials.
Yao reminded the families to stay healthy and pray for strength as they rebuild their lives.
Some families in La Castellana and La Carlota City in Negros Occidental, who were also displaced, have returned to their homes early this month, after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) lowered Kanlaon’s alert level from three to two in July.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson welcomed their return. “This is good news. Now we can focus on residents still within the four-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ),” he said.
He emphasized the need for permanent relocation, particularly for those within the PDZ. “We should learn from this incident.”
Lacson hopes that Kanlaon will further simmer down.