Mud, boulders from Mt. Kanlaon blamed for deadly floods

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose “Bong” Lacson said the massive flow of mud, water, and large boulders that devastated several communities during the onslaught of Typhoon Tino is now widely believed to have come from Mount Kanlaon.

“That’s the common belief now — all these mud, all this water, all the boulders came from Mount Kanlaon,” Lacson told reporters Monday.

He said there were also reports pointing to a possible landslide on the volcano’s slopes.

Lacson said the death toll was significantly high because residents were caught off guard.

Data from the Office of Civil Defense–Negros Island Region showed 105 deaths and 53 missing as of this writing.

“The common reason given was that people didn’t really expect this. ‘First time ni natabo’ was mentioned again and again,” he said.

“After what happened because of Typhoon Tino, the pre-emptive call will now be heeded by the population,” Lacson said.

Lacson also questioned the large logs found among the debris.

“These logs could have been illegally cut. That’s public land — there should be no private land up there in Mount Kanlaon,” he said.

He said the province will coordinate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to investigate whether illegal logging contributed to the disaster.

“Like the boulders — can that size and volume even be quarried? If so, who could quarry that magnitude? These are questions in my mind,” he said.

Lacson said the provincial government is finalizing how the PHP50 million fund for housing assistance will be distributed, given the scale of destruction.

The PHP50 million came from the Office of the President and was released during the weekend after Marcos visited Moises Padilla and La Castellana, two of the hardest-hit areas.

Lacson said 105,000 houses were partially damaged and 13,000 were totally damaged across Negros Occidental.

He said housing aid will be PHP10,000 for each totally damaged house and PHP5,000 for each partially damaged house.

Lacson explained the funding dilemma.

“If we give PHP5,000 each to partially damaged homes, we can only cover about 10,000 families — that’s just 10 percent. For totally damaged homes, if we give PHP10,000, we can only assist around 5,000 families — that’s 38 percent. Percentage-wise, we can help more from the totally damaged category, but by sheer number, it’s the partially damaged group.”

He said the province will consult mayors to determine the final approach.

“What we will do is decide whether to give to totally damaged or partially damaged homes. We will prorate it based on the reports. For example, if there are 13,000 totally damaged houses across all LGUs, we will divide the assistance by percentage per LGU based on their submissions,” he said.

Lacson said the province hopes to distribute the aid as soon as possible.

Local governments will submit final beneficiary lists, while the provincial government will directly release the cash.

He expressed concern that many families with totally damaged homes may no longer be able to return.

“They lost their houses and even their land. Many places are now covered with boulders or have been overrun by water. These areas are already no-build zones,” he said.

Lacson confirmed that the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development is ready to provide free modular houses for evacuees, with the only requirement being the availability of land.

A site in La Castellana has already been purchased, but the LGU must first declare it a multi-use area.

Around 200–300 lots can be made available, with DHSUD units sized at 80 square meters in Barangay Talaptap.

“Priority will be the Kanlaon evacuees,” he said.