President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said the government is prepared to evacuate and provide necessary assistance to the residents of Negros Island amid the unrest of Mt. Kanlaon.

In an ambush interview, Marcos said the government has already started distributing food packs and other essential aid to more than 80,000 residents affected by the eruption of Mt. Kanlaon since Monday. 

He mentioned that Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian had already traveled to Negros Island to oversee relief efforts following the eruption.

Marcos said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already allocated “sufficient funds” to provide additional support to families temporarily housed in evacuation centers. 

“We are ready to support the families who have been evacuated outside the six-kilometer danger zone. We’re ready. We know what to do and we have already started to send food packs, and we already started to send all of the things that we [need to] bring to those who are in evacuation centers,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense (DND) urged the remaining residents of La Castellana in Negros Occidental and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental — located within the six-kilometer danger zone of Mt. Kanlaon — to immediately evacuate. 

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the government is already conducting a forced evacuation in these areas as Mt. Kanlaon’s alert status is now raised to level 3. 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported that Kanlaon erupted at around 3:03 PM on Monday. 

The eruption produced a massive plume that rose rapidly to 3,000 meters above the vent and drifted west-southwest. 

Phivolcs then raised the level from Alert Level 2 (increasing unrest) to Alert Level 3 (magmatic unrest), indicating that an eruption had commenced and could escalate into more explosive activity.

According to Teodoro, there are estimated that around 54,000 people are residing within the danger zone. 

Teodoro, who also chairs the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said the government is now “preparing for the worst” should the Kanlaon’s alert level status further escalate. 

Once Alert Level 4 is declared over Kanlaon, this means that the danger zone radius will also increase to within 10 kilometers.

As of Tuesday, the NDRRMC Emergency Operations Center reported the evacuation of 1,686 families, or 5,400 individuals, from the barangays of Cabagnaan, Camandag, Sag-Ang, Biaknabato, Mansalanao, Masulog, Manghanoy, and Robles in La Castellana.

In Bago City, Negros Occidental, 385 families were evacuated from Barangays Mailum, Ilijan, Binubuhan, and Ma-ao.

La Carlota City also reported the evacuation of 673 families from Barangays Yubo and Ara-al.

In Pontevedra, 132 families were evacuated from two barangays, while four families in Moises Padilla evacuated from one barangay.

In total, 2,880 families across five municipalities and 17 barangays have been affected.

Moreover, the DSWD said there are nearly 80,000 family food packs and more than 15,000 non-food items have been prepositioned for the affected residents. 

In an interview over the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Tuesday, DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the government will be providing financial relief assistance under the department’s Assistance to Individuals Under Crisis Situation (AICS).

Dumlao noted this would be a separate aid from food and non-food items. 

“Another intervention that is being provided by the DSWD is emergency cash transfer wherein we grant unconditional cash transfers to assist disaster-affected families in their recovery,” she explained.