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BACOLOD CITY — The Commission on Elections in the Negros Island Region will make adjustments to its contingency plans for the elections if the status of Kanlaon Volcano is raised to Alert Level 4, Comelec regional director Lionel Marco Castillano said on Thursday.
Castillano said adjustments will be made because the affected local government units also made adjustments on their contingency plans.
He said there are six local governments affected by the eruption in Negros Island where voting centers can be put up near the evacuation centers.
Castillano said he has ordered election officers to secure a certification from school principals on the availability of classrooms that can be used as voting centers.
He said that aside from the election centers, the office of the election officers needs to be transferred too if the alert level for Kanlaon Volcano is raised to 4 where a hazardous eruption is imminent.
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Currently, Kanlaon is under Alert Level 3 or high level of volcanic unrest.
Castillano said the poll body is bracing for the transfer of voting centers, election offices, ballot boxes and other election paraphernalia, to areas where the evacuees are staying.
He said the Comelec is determined to push through with the May 2025 elections in the affected areas so as not to affect the canvassing of results for the senatorial and party-list candidates.
Should the alert level be raised to 4, Castillano said the Canlaon City evacuees will be spread out in evacuation centers in Negros Oriental while the Moises Padilla evacuees will be brought to Guihulngan City.
Castillano said not only evacuees will be transported to the voting centers, but also the voting machines and other election paraphernalia, adding that canvassing areas will also be transferred, he said.
Makeshift polling centers are also being eyed by the Comelec for establishments, Castillano added.
Meanwhile, a minor eruption took place at Kanlaon Volcano Thursday afternoon, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.
The Phivolcs Kanlaon Observatory in La Carlota City said that the continuous rainfall has transformed ash deposits into mudflow in the Buhangin River that flows through La Castellana and Moises Padilla.
The Moises Padilla Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office posted photos of the muddy stream flow as seen from the Intiguiwan Bridge in the town.
A minor explosive eruption at the summit crater of Kanlaon Volcano occurred at 3:11 p.m. Thursday and lasted for two minutes based on seismic and infrasound records, Phivolcs said.
Ashfall was reported in Barangay Sag-ang, La Castellana, it said.
Mari- Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist in Negros Occidental, on Friday said that they are closely monitoring the events of the volcano after the eruption on Thursday.
Quintia said they are watching the ground deformation of the volcano, sulfur dioxide emissions and seismicity.
She said that it is possible that the crater of the mouth of the volcano is now clogged up "that's why the pressure is gas is building resulting in the eruption."
"If the parameters we are monitoring abruptly changes the alert level may be raised to Alert Level 4," she said.
