BACOLOD, Philippines – Himamaylan education officials will provide students from three still locked down sitios their class modules in the city’s main evacuation center on Wednesday, October 19, so they can keep pace with their peers allowed to physically return to school.

Battle-weary residents of the southern city, 75 kilometers south of Bacolod, Negros Occidental’s capital, started returning to their homes over the weekend.

Mayor Raymund Tongson issued an executive order on Sunday, October 16, to help close to 4,000 families (almost 18,000 individuals) return to normalcy after more than a week of clashes between government troops and communist rebels.

The Philippine Army and the Incident Management Team on Saturday, October 15, gave a green light for the return of rural folk displaced since October 6, except for Sitios Sig-ang, Medel, and Campayas in Barangay Carabalan.

Evacuees staying at Don Florencio Villafranca National High School, Manuel Yulo Elementary School, Carabalan Elementary School, and the Carabalan covered court were allowed to return to their homes, Tongson said.

Sig-ang, Medel, and Campayas bore the brunt of fighting that killed two soldiers of the 94th Infantry Battalion and ranking Negros communist leader Romeo Nanta, better known by his nom de guerre Juanito Magbanua.

Around 600 residents of the three sitios remain in the evacuation site near the city center, while most have chosen to temporarily board with relatives.

The mayor pledged to provide aid to speed up the return to normalcy and said the city would keep tabs on properties, including crops and animals that may have been destroyed or damaged during clashes and their aftermath.

The city declared a state of calamity on October 10 to tap into disaster funds as the number of evacuees ballooned. The mayor said he would also tap the government’s aid program for individuals in crisis.

– Rappler.com