MANILA, Philippines — Let the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) do its job and don’t blame it for alleged lack of information dissemination about Taal Volcano, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday.
“The mere fact nobody was reported to have died, I think we should not blame Phivolcs, and just allow them to do their job,” Lacson, speaking partly in Filipino, told reporters at the Senate when asked about a House member’s call for an investigation of allegedly insufficient updates on Taal Volcano.
Cavite 4th District Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. filed a “Resolution Directing the Appropriate Committee to Conduct an Investigation in Aid of Legislation Into the Recent Taal Volcano Eruption,” which seeks to probe the lack of “news bulletins or SMS” prior to the volcano’s unrest on Sunday, Jan. 12, afternoon.
Barzaga said a probe should be conducted to determine if Phivolcs showed comprehensive monitoring of the situation in Taal Volcano and whether it has the “technical expertise to make a timely forecast of the Taal Volcano eruption.”
But Senate President Vicente Sotto III said in Filipino: “We don’t know yet. We should find out first [if there was really a lack of information dissemination]. We might be just pointing fingers here and looking for people to blame.”
Like Sotto, Lacson also believed it would be premature to blame Phivolcs, noting that state seismologists regularly informed the public on the Taal Volcano eruption.
“This is not the time to blame people. The situation is still there. We don’t know what else will happen. And quite regularly they are giving updates. So I think it’s a bit premature if we start blaming them blame now,” he said at another interview with reporters.
In a recent press conference, Phivolcs observed new fissures or cracks in areas around Taal Volcano, an indication of an “imminent explosive eruption.”
/atm