00:00The local government of Canlaon immediately carried out a forced evacuation of residents near Volcan Canlaon.
00:06We will talk to the phone line of Canlaon City Mayor Jose Cardenas for an update.
00:13Good morning Mayor, how is your situation there?
00:16Yes, good morning also Ma'am Naomi and good morning to all who are listening to us now.
00:23The situation here in Canlaon City is already a bit weak because of the volcano eruption.
00:31For now, it is not erupting anymore so we are hoping and praying that this will not continue.
00:41But since from Alert Level 2 is being heightened to Alert Level 3,
00:48our evacuees are being held in their respective evacuation centers.
00:54Mayor, how many barangays and residents are affected by the ashfall and how many have been evacuated so far?
01:04To be honest, there is no ashfall here in Canlaon because the ashfall is going to the southwest.
01:14It will go to the towns of La Carlota, La Castellana and Bago.
01:23Here in Canlaon, there is not much ashfall but the barangays situated at the foot of Mount Canlaon
01:31were affected by the tremors and portion of the ashfall as well.
01:38But in the town of Canlaon itself, the ashfall did not reach Ma'am Naomi.
01:44How about those who are under evacuation? Did the residents who you said were evacuated follow suit?
01:53In a barangay, in Barangay Masolog, Sitio Mananawin,
02:00which is located near the top of the volcano,
02:06we did not force evacuate them because they were already in danger.
02:13Because of the threat of imminent danger, they were the ones who were evacuated.
02:20In fact, in our evacuation center, 443 individuals were evacuated.
02:29Their families outside our evacuation center,
02:36because they have relatives here in the town,
02:39were also evacuated.
02:41So we did not have much problem in evacuating them
02:45because they were already in danger of imminent danger.
02:52So they were the ones who were evacuated.
02:54In the response that your LGU did after the eruption of the volcano,
02:59what were the problems that you encountered that hopefully will be resolved?
03:05Well, our first problem,
03:08first of all, because the number of people who went to the evacuation center was massive,
03:17the time of cooking,
03:20because we know that the people, the farmers,
03:24they cook early,
03:26because they cook around 4am.
03:28And here, it's a bit delayed.
03:31It's only 7am when they start cooking.
03:38So those are the basic problems that we encountered
03:44because of the food and non-food items that we prepositioned from the DSWD.
03:52Mayor, you mentioned earlier that there were no ashfalls in your area.
03:56But how is the health of the residents, especially those who are close to the volcano?
03:59Are there any respiratory issues that you have experienced?
04:05On the previous eruption on June 6,
04:10if I'm not mistaken, June 3,
04:14we also experienced calf and other illnesses.
04:20But it's tolerable.
04:23I mean, it's within the bracket that it's not really alarming.
04:27The only problem here are our farmers,
04:31the vegetable farmers,
04:33because the Kanlaon City,
04:35the way of life here is mainly farming.
04:40And it's composed of three farmers.
04:42We have sugarcane farmers, rice farmers, and vegetable farmers.
04:48So that's why the vegetable farmers are the ones who get affected.
04:53And occasionally, every time the volcano erupts,
04:56their crops get affected.
05:00And in fact, only 20% of the crops reach our market to be sold.
05:08That is why I will take this opportunity to call on the national government,
05:13the Department of Agriculture,
05:16to help our vegetable farmers here
05:21because our rice farmers have assistance coming from the RCEP.
05:27But our vegetable farmers are the ones who haven't received assistance
05:33coming from the national government.
05:36Thank you very much for your time.
05:37Be careful there, Mayor Jose Cardenas of Kanlaon City.
05:40Thank you, Ma'am Naomi.
05:42And thank you to everyone.
