Mayon, Taal volcanoes acting up - Phivolcs

by Bella Cariaso Philstar.com

MANILA — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised Alert Level 2 over Mayon Volcano in Albay amid increased sulfur emissions and rockfalls from the summit’s lava dome.

Phivolcs also monitored increased activity in Taal Volcano in Batangas, but said raising the alert level is not yet warranted.

In its Monday bulletin, June 5, Phivolcs said rockfall events in Mayon have increased in frequency since the last week of April.

These increased from an average of five per day to 49 events per day recorded from 5 a.m. of June 4 to 5 a.m. of June 5 – along with a total of 318 rockfall events and 26 volcanic earthquakes since April 1, 2023.

“The electronic tiltmeter monitoring shows the upper slopes to be inflating since February 2023 and electronic tilt monitoring indicate that Mayon is still inflated, especially on the northwest and southeast, since 2020,” Phivolcs added.

According to Phivolcs, it also recorded 576 tons per day of sulfur dioxide emission on April 29, compared to an average of 162 tons per day on May 23.

“These low-level volcanic earthquakes, ground deformation and volcanic gas parameters are overshadowed by recent steep increases in rockfall events which may possibly lead to further dome activity,” Phivolcs added.

“This means that there is current unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes that could eventually lead to phreatic eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption,” Phivolcs added.

State volcanologists said PAGE 10

Galang, a noted expert on agricultural logistics, also called for a revitalization of the agricultural sector, by stimulating more investments in better farming technology and building a more efficient system for moving produce from the farm to consumers.

“The country’s economic outlook for the rest of the year is positive, although the risk of food inflation remains possible due to El Niño,” he said.

Galang’s appeal came on the heels of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) latest projection on the country’s medium-term inflation path.

“The May 2023 inflation outturn of 6.1 percent is within the BSP’s forecast range of 5.8 to 6.6 percent, consistent with the overall assessment that inflation will remain elevated over the near term before gradually decelerating back to target range in fourth quarter of 2023, in the absence of further supply-shocks,” the BSP said in a statement on Tuesday.

Alan Tan, chair of ADM’s economics department, said “the economy is poised to grow at its average pace of 6.5 percent this second quarter. This is supported by