Resorts bringing tourists near Taal crater face sanctions

MANILA, Philippines - Resort owners who will bring tourists to Pulo Island, near the crater of the restive Taal volcano in Batangas, face sanctions, the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday.

Tourists, according to the Coast Guard, will be allowed to go on a boat ride only up to about halfway to Pulo Island. “Going straight to Pulo is strictly prohibited,” it said.

The Coast Guard will issue a stern warning for the first offense, and will fine the boat operator and resort owner at point of origin for the second offense. For the third offense, it will confiscate the motorboat and close the erring resort.

Alert level 2 remains hoisted over Taal volcano, which means that it is experiencing magmatic intrusion that may lead to an eruption.

“They (the tourists) are curious, they want to see what is new with Taal but we cannot allow that because of the danger,” said Capt. Frankelino Phaeton, the local Coast Guard operations officer.

Despite earlier warnings from government volcanologists to avoid the volcano, foreign tourists were still coming to the island, often hiring horses to ride up to the volcano’s crater, local Coast Guard personnel said.

Mostly South Koreans and some Japanese were visiting the restive volcano, they added.

Should the situation worsen, the Coast Guard said residents of Barangays Caloocan, Boco and Leynes shall exit on Sampaloc Road going to Tagaytay City, and those in Barangays Sta. Maria, Banga and Poblacion shall exit on Atsungay Road to Tagaytay.

Villagers in Barangays Quiling and Tumaway, meanwhile, shall exit on the national road to Tanauan, Batangas.

Some residents of the volcanic island though have voluntarily left, said Phaeton, but there has been no order yet to forcibly evacuate those remaining.

Taal, located 65 kilometers south of Manila, is one of the most unstable of the country’s 22 active volcanoes with 33 recorded eruptions, the last one being in 1977.