Dumaguete City, July 30 -- Canlaon City in Negros Oriental is laying down measures to ensure the safe return of evacuees to their homes after eight months of staying in shelters in the aftermath of Mt. Kanlaon's eruption last December.

"We are now meeting at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to map out a smooth departure of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from evacuation camps to their respective barangays within the Permanent Danger Zone of the volcano," EOC information officer Seth Cabanas Bariga said in an interview on Wednesday.

This came after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) downgraded Kanlaon's alert level from 3 (magmatic unrest / high level of volcanic unrest) to 2 (moderate level of...