Dumaguete City, Aug. 4 -- Nineteen families in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental remain in evacuation centers, while the rest of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the Mt. Kanlaon eruption last year have already returned home, an official said Monday.

In an interview, Seth Cabanas Bariga, information officer of the city's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), told the Philippine News Agency that originally, 45 families inside the four-kilometer permanent danger zone of the volcano were identified as not qualified to return home.

"Some of these families, however, opted to leave the evacuation centers to stay with relatives instead," Bariga said.

He added Camps 11, 13, and 19 evacuation sites are still functional, but the EOC will i...