Evacuees sneaking into Mayon’s restricted areas

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The Army has tightened security in entry points around the prohibited zone of Mayon Volcano as evacuees started sneaking into restricted areas to visit the houses they left and till their plantations.

Col. Raul Farnacio, Task Force Mayon commander, said the month-long lull in Mayon’s abnormal condition contributes to the complacency of some residents.

“But for as long as we can monitor them, we will never allow them to enter the danger zone. No amount of their explanations could persuade us to allow their entry,” he told The STAR.

Farnacio said the Army is tightly guarding the entry points and sealed or have cut off the small trails being used by residents in entering the permanent danger zone. 

Soldiers also pick up residents they chance upon during the Army’s routine patrol and bring them out of the danger zone, he added.

Farnacio called on evacuation managers to help the Army by preventing residents from leaving the evacuation centers.

“They should conduct periodic inventory of these evacuees to ensure that they remain in the camps and do not go back to the danger area,” he said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded a faint crater glow from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. yesterday.

Phivolcs-Bicol chief volcanologist Ed Laguerta said the crater glow indicates that the magma is already in the upper slope of Mayon.

“Should this crater glow continue and the surface would continue inflating, we can say that an explosive eruption is looming,” Laguerta warned.

A rockfall event and at least 187 tons of sulfur dioxide emission were also detected in the past 24 hours, but no volcanic earthquake was recorded. Mayon’s surface inflation was more than 17 millimeters as of yesterday.

Laguerta said a ground deformation team is conducting a survey to determine the volume of magma that is moving upwards and whether the surface inflation has increased due to the pressure from the gas of the ascending magma.

“The result of the survey on the two-kilometer area on the upper portion of the slope is now very critical since it verifies the volcano has entered a higher level of unrest towards an imminent eruption,” he added.

DSWD admits spoiled food packs

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) admitted that there are spoiled or expired food in the shipment of relief goods the agency delivered to Albay for distribution to evacuees, and would investigate the incident.

The DSWD said there were 33 food packs containing spoiled canned goods and expired noodles in the 22,350 food packs it distributed to evacuees over the weekend, not 21 sacks as previously reported.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the DSWD would investigate why spoiled food was delivered to evacuees when food items were newly procured.

Based on the result of the initial investigation by the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, the canned goods got damaged in transit due to the weight and bulk of the relief supplies piled in the trucks.

The DSWD, however, has yet to find out from the supplier why there are expired noodles in the newly purchased goods.

Soliman has ordered the review of DSWD’s procurement process and its handling and logistic practices to institute corrective actions, and has promised that the incident would not happen again in the next relief delivery caravans for Mayon evacuees.

She also said that the DSWD would immediately replace the spoiled food so as not to compromise the needs of the evacuees. – With Celso Amo, Rainier Allan Ronda