La Castellana Mayor Rhummyla Nicor Mangilimutan on Wednesday, January 15, expressed concern over the escalating financial burden of providing food for the over 4,400 residents displaced by the ongoing activity of Kanlaon Volcano.
The mayor warned that the town’s current expenditure on food for the evacuees, estimated at P15 million per month, is unsustainable. She emphasized that this figure could rise significantly if Alert Level 4 is raised, leading to a substantial increase in the number of evacuees.
Mangilimutan highlighted that La Castellana’s annual budget of approximately P355 million is already stretched thin, as it must cover essential services for the remaining 84,000 residents of the town.
During a meeting with Office of Civil Defense Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno at the Capitol in Bacolod City yesterday, Mangilimutan also raised this concern along with concern on the town’s responsibility for the well-being of its evacuees, particularly if they are relocated to a tent city in Himamaylan.
The mayor stressed that relocating La Castellana residents to Himamaylan is currently impractical due to the incomplete status of the Himamaylan tent city. Furthermore, she emphasized the critical need for a signed memorandum of agreement with Himamaylan City to outline the logistics and care of the evacuees, including details on who will be responsible for their ongoing needs.
