No special elections in Kanlaon-affected areas

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Special elections will not be conducted in areas in Negros Occidental affected by the eruption of Kanlaon Volcano, according to the office of the provincial election supervisor.

Ian Lee Ananoria, chief of the Commission on Elections-Negros Occidental, said the Comelec does not want to hold any special election as this may delay the counting of votes.

Schools that serve as evacuation centers for people displaced by Kanlaon will not be used as polling centers.

“Alternative polling precincts may be set up near evacuation sites for people displaced by the volcanic eruption,” Ananoria said.

With less than three weeks to go before the May 12 elections, local Comelec officials have been busy preparing alternative polling centers for the 12,479 voters affected by Kanlaon.

Earlier, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said it would not allow evacuees to return to polling centers where they used to cast their votes before the volcano erupted.

If Kanlaon’s alert level is raised to 4, the Comelec said more than 80,000 voters in Bago, La Carlota, La Castellana, Murcia, Pontevedra and San Carlos are expected to cast their votes in 22 proposed alternative polling centers.

Meanwhile, the provincial government has canceled the P14 million allocated for the establishment of a permanent relocation site for residents of La Castellana displaced by Kanlaon.

This developed after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau disapproved the proposed relocation site in Barangay Manghanoy due to its proximity to a sanitary landfill.

Provincial administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said the OCD is eyeing the villages of Talaptap and Lalagsan as potential permanent relocation sites.

The P14 million was supposed to be sourced from the P50-million financial aid extended by the Office of the President to the provincial government.

The amount will instead be used to provide hot meals for displaced people who have been staying in evacuation centers for several months now.

La Castellana has the most number of evacuees with 1,356 families composed of 4,256 people.