BACOLOD CITY: Some of the more than 18,000 residents who were forced to leave their homes because of armed clashes between government forces and communist rebels in hinterland barangay (villages) of Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, have been allowed to return to their homes, according to an advisory posted on the Facebook account of Mayor Raymund Tongson on Sunday, October 16.

Tongson said the city's Incident Management Team conducted a command conference with the Philippine Army on Saturday and they 'decided that the evacuees temporarily sheltered at the Don Florencio Villafranca National High School and Manuel Yulo Elementary School [be] allowed to return home starting October 15.'