Thousands of evacuees moved from schools, but Kanlaon ‘tent city’ stays empty

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The empty tents at the evacuation site, which cost the government some P12 million, raise serious questions about planning, priorities, and political will

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Five months after soldiers pitched hundreds of tents in Himamaylan City for people fleeing Kanlaon Volcano, not a single family has moved in.

Now, with more than 4,000 evacuees forced out of La Castellana public schools to make way for classes that began Monday, June 16, the so-called “tent city” has become a show window of the gaps in the government’s disaster response – ready on paper, idle on the ground. 

The empty tents at the evacuation site, which cost the government some P12 million, raise serious questions about planning, priorities, and political will.

Built in February by the Army’s 542nd Engineering Battalion at Treepark in Barangay III, Himamaylan, the site has 395 family tents meant for over 300 families of five to seven members each.

Set up by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) two months after Kanlaon Volcano’s December 9, 2024 eruption, the site remains unused. There, there is no water supply, no electricity, and the tents are empty.

Raul Fernandez, head of the regional Task Force Kanlaon, told Rappler on Tuesday, June 17, that the P12-million tent city remains in its original state and location.

Despite its unutilized state, Fernandez said OCD has no plans to dismantle the site.

Fernandez said the tent city “will stand and stay there with noble purpose – to cater Kanlaon evacuees in the worst-case scenario.”

He said the tent city will be used during an anticipated major Kanlaon Volcano eruption when Alert Level 4 is raised by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). Such alert level would require the forced evacuation of over 100,000 residents from several towns and cities in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.

La Castellana’s recently displaced evacuees, more than 4,000, are from five barangays within the extended six-kilometer danger zone: Biak Na Bato, Cabagnaan, Sag-ang, Masulog, and Mansalanao.

They have been moved out of school buildings and are now camping inside and around barangay covered courts and in open spaces beside La Castellana Central Elementary School and La Castellana National High School.

While the evacuees can use the Himamaylan tent city now, Fernandez said he understands why they chose to stay in La Castellana. He cited two reasons: the tent city is about 50 kilometers away from La Castellana and not suitable for school-age children, especially with the start of classes.

In the meantime, Himamaylan Mayor Raymund Tongson said they were securing the site and the local government was ready to give a counterpart funding for its eventual use if asked by OCD.

The national government has approved a P203.88-million budget for response efforts, including P62.54 million allocated for utilities and operations at the Himamaylan tent city.

Not enough shelters

But as the threat of a major eruption looms, disaster officials admitted that the evacuation centers identified in the two Negros provinces were not enough under a worst-case scenario.

In an inventory report, the OCD said only 9,670 families, or about 48,350 individuals, can be accommodated in existing evacuation centers in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. That figure falls short of the estimated 20,000 families, or about 100,000 people, anticipated to be evacuated if the volcano’s danger zone expands from the present six-kilometer radius to 12 kilometers.

This leaves around 10,330 families, or more than 51,000 people, without designated shelters.

Fernandez said they were negotiating with the local governments to increase their capacity to accommodate evacuees in their evacuation centers.

Based on the report, the following cities and towns in Negros Occidental have the following evacuation capacities:

• Bacolod City, 300 families
• Himamaylan, 300 families
• Kabankalan City, 2,000 families
• Victorias City, 60 families
• La Castellana, 200 families
• Bago City, 2,325 families
• San Carlos City, 200 families
• Silay City, 50 families

In Negros Oriental:

• Ayungon, 225 families
• Guihulngan, 2,640 families
• Jimalalud, 165 families
• La Libertad, 210 families
• Tayasan, 415 families
• Vallehermoso, 580 families

“Most probably, we will again use school facilities to accommodate as many internally displaced persons as possible,” Fernandez said. – Rappler.com