MANI[A, PHIIIPPINES I THURSDAY 23 JANUARY 2020
SAzuGgtr ZONE CTOSTD
ffiorred'eyac'fro saue lives
A iotal of 2,558 classrooms are now being occupied by evacuees since Tadl
Volcano erupted last 12 January
By loistina Maralit
and Jomelle 0arner
@tribunephl-tina
The Department of bhe
Inledor and LocaI Government
: 1Dttcl is considering
forcefutly drag residents
out of Taal Volcano's danger
= zone - the l.l-kjlometer
fu high-,i.k areas - iJ only to
& ensure bheir safety
Gre.
EE:"E.
This as the
{uthorities are mulling over the possibility of dragging residents out of the danger
Philippine lnsiiiute.of \rolcanblogy and -
'zone to ensure that no residents remain at the high-risk areas
Seismology (Phivolcs) declared it is not
taking any chances at lowedng the current
Alert Level 4, stressing that it is stiil unsa.fe Ftot t paga Al been registries of 'signifrcantly press briefing.
to gel Io the sires al li\k. weakern volcanic earthquakes "lt's possible that th€ vents
''lose
ihir,nlcs Volcano llonitoring and Eruption ' visible in several municipalities the past few days. where SO2 cDuld be released
to Prediction Division head, Mariton Bornas in Bbtangas since last week. Sultur dioxide (S02) emissions from arejudt'blockba. {0, it
*dilemma' on
said the agency is facing a Phivolcs said these are indicators have also declined, down to 153 are many possible factors,. "r.
We
how lo assess the magma deposits thal rat maoma is flowin{undemeatlr tons listed yesterday compared need to see a continuous .tlend
has a.reaoy iurlaced and had cau5ed dianl ii ,ui"a".
fissures'
to Tuesday's 344 tons. that the emission level is going
,"In addition. Bornas noted "Just because S02 went down,'l she added. :
Fissures or large cracks have been 'if,":t tJV"i"""L down, it doesn'tmean that we're In this light, DILGRegion Iv-A
' run to page a2 ".tiiib*itiing
.plumes, although the{e have already safe,' Bornas said in a ofr icer-in<harge Elias Fernandez
\ 4EAna t til€ Nerisq N€fi PAq€- PU," ->
Cr)
 said authorit,ies are mulling alre"dy lo*.; young girls, inside the evacuation
over.ihe possibiliw of dragging She, however, said that it is centers.
.resid€nts out of the danger unlikely that residenis within
all "U only I can talk to all of
zone t0 ensure that no residents the l4kilomenter danger zone you,' said Avancefla, who was
remain at the high-risk areas. will be allowed to retuin in.the emotional dudng her speech.
. "We'll tell the police and the event of a lowdi alert level.
law enftrcement agencies to (do .We
will not recommend thal,,. - Elacuate the er10cuees
is
thAt), if possible, If that is what she stressed, explaining that a Meanwhile, an official from
needed to spare their lives, we,ll downgraded Aleit t evel g stitt the Department of Education
grag them out of those areas,' pssss a hazardous eruption that (DepEd) in Batangas has
Fernandez said. could happen.withi; days l0 appealed to the government to
The idea was brought up weeks.' relocate displaced families from
, after eeriol inspection of the Batangas Gov. Hermilando the schools to resume classes.
Taal-a.ffected areas 0n Thesday Mandanas said that around one Merthel Evardome, School
showed many residents still million residenis have been Division Superintendent of
staying at the coastal towns affected by the eruption 0fTaal Batangas Province told the House
around the volcano. ^{t?$-
e! _
Volcano last 12 January of Representatives, constituted
4,5
q:F as a committee of the whole on
Seizure up? "e:6r* Just because SO2 went Wednesday that a total of 219
Fernandez warned that down, it doesn't mean firat schools in Batangas province
the Philippine Coast Guard we'r€ alre&dy saf,e. have already been tuned into
(PCG) could confiscate rhe boals evacuation centers.
in
being used by the residents Mandanas said that more "No amount of calamibr should
going to the high-riskareas. or tess 200.000 individuals are stop our children from studying,"
But f0r now, the DILG being remporarily sheltered in Evardome said.
official said they would continue evacuation centers in Batangas, 'We are asking help from our
persuading the rcsidents t0 stop Cavite, Laguna and local govemment executives for
Quezon.
returning to th€ir homes. The remaining g00,000, available space to transfer and
"We will use the police meanwhile. are said to be attend to our evacuees. We are
and the mililary and other siaying wiih their relalives in ready to coordinate with you,"
lavr enforcement agencies to non-affected areas in Batangas, she added.
continue asking those who are neighboring provinces and ilso
Ieft thsre 10 leave the danger in Metro Manila. If maximum persuasion is
zones,' Fernandez stated. Among those ordered as not effective, we will be
ulf maximum persuasion is
no access sites and are being forced to do other actions,
not effective, we wiU be forced tigh y guarded by authoritiei If possible, we will physieatly
to do other actions. If possible, were Talisay, Laurei, San Nicolas, pull them out of the ar€as.
(wewill) physically pull them out Balete, Agoncillo, and some axeas Just to'save their llves,
of the areas. Jusi to save their in Lemeiy, Taai,- Sta>Teresita,
lives,'he added. Mataas na Kahoy, Upa City and According to the official a
Citing observations after the Tanauan Citv. total of 2,668 class rooms are
aerial inspection, Bornas said now being occupied by evacuees
that there are new features on Honeylot checks on eranuees since Taal Volcano erupted last
the main crater, including a president Roddgo Duterte,s 12 January.
new cone formed by the lava partner Honeylet Avancefla Only the schools in Iobo and
fountaining events. yesterday checked on the llngloy are not occupied by eyacuees.
Bornas said it is possible for situation of evacuees at the In Bauar almost all schools are
the alert leyel to be lowered Batangas provincial Sports occupied io date, she said.
if-there will be a continuing Conplex in Batangas City. This already disrupted the
ndowntrend of monitoring
She joined ii the'relief education of some 60,000 students
parameters," meaning the operition orsanized bv in affected communities.
"probabilities of an eruption are lederalion of Filipino-Chinese In appealing for the relocation

{.tlaAoctr)E iJFu}.(
t ilf*l'T"d: 'f'St8ff ;l$
Presidential Commission for the
Urban poor (pCUp),
U-) Avanc€fla and members ofthe
['FCCCU, headed by president
Henry Bon Liong of Sterling Paper
and Michael Tan of the Lucio Tan
Group of Companies, distributed
10,000 relief packs,10,000 kilos
of rice and 10,000 tiko, as their
gifts.for the upcoming Chinese
New Year.
During her interaction with the
evacuees, Avanceia particularly
expressed her concerns for the
safety liT women, especially
of evacuees, Evardome cited
Republic Act 10821 or the
Children's Emergency Relief and
Protection A{t of 2015 mandating
'local government
units to identify
locations for evacuation centers.
Under the law, the first spaces
that should be tumed into er"aruation
centers are sports complex,
Smnasiums, aside from others.
Schools axe last among the options,
Despite disrupted operation
of schools, Evardome said DepEd
is doing its best to continue
educating students.
Wth rl.ith calayag
' @ttibunephl_kit