Phivolcs: Mayon restive ‘in gentle and quiet mode’ IN BRIEF

3 tra icking victims back from Myanmar

THREE more Filipino victims of the human trafficking syndicate were repatriated from Myanmar, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the three victims, in their 20s and early 30s, arrived from Myanmar on board a Singapore airlines flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

The three victims departed last April 2023 disguised as tourists bound for Singapore.

However, they admitted that they were recruited online to work in a call center in Thailand, only to end up being shipped to Yangon, Myanmar to work in a pseudocall center involved in scam operations.

“One of the victims was even an online influencer, with more than 10 thousand subscribers,” Tansingco said.

He reiterated his warning to aspiring overseas workers not to agree to work abroad by posing as tourists.

“Leaving as tourists makes you more vulnerable, and we have received reports of victims being physically abused by these traffickers. If you wish to work abroad, do so legally, through the Department of Migrant Workers,” he added.

The three victims were assisted by the NAIA Task Force against Trafficking, the National Bureau of Investigation, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and the Department of Migrant Workers.

CBCP welcomes Afghan refugees

AN OFFICIAL of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMI) has expressed support to the Philippine government’s plan to accommodate some 50,000 Afghan refugees, saying it is an act of “charity and compassion.”

“As a Catholic country, it is considered acts of charity and compassion to assist and to welcome them. We heed to God’s call that ‘as I am a stranger you welcome’,”

CBCP-ECMI vice chair Bishop Ruperto Santos said in a statement Tuesday. He noted that Filipinos were known to be charitable and hospitable.

“It is our natural traits (to be) hospitable, helpful, and hardworking people,” Santos said.

He also believed that it is also part of the country’s international commitment to open its doors to refugees.

“Our commitment as United Nations signatory is to help and accommodate migrants and refugees,” he added.

Earlier, the United States asked the Philippines to admit the 50,000 refugees from Afghanistan. They will briefly stay in the country while they await the approval of their special immigration visas from the American government.

Last week, Malacañang said the government was evaluating the US. request on behalf of the Afghan refugees.

OFFICIALS of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have joined calls for a probe on last Sunday’s killing of five people in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao del Sur, allegedly by men in uniform.

Mohagher Iqbal, chief peace negotiator for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), on Monday called on the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament to seek for the return of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) as an effective platform in probing instances of ceasefire violation

The killings were purportedly perpetrated by a “raiding team” of police personnel, according to the victims’ families.

They said armed men, some of them clad in military uniform, raided a house, followed by gunshots that left five people dead. Two of the fatalities were identified as Nasser Yusseff Husain; Norjihad Madídis Husain, both members or were children of former MILF combatants.

At least one more member of the BTA Parliament has unofficially concurred in to Iqbal’s call for inquiry. However, the official who wished to remain anonymous added that calls for probe were best extended to the national government, particularly the House of Representatives and the Senate. Nash B. Maulana

MAYON Volcano continued to be restive on Tuesday, but “in a gentle and quiet mode,” according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) which also said lava flows have reached 2.5 kilometers along the Mi-isi gully in Daraga, Albay.

The Phivolcs said very slow effusions along Bonga gully in Legazpi City has also reached 1.8 kilometers, while lava streams on both gullies were within 3.3 kilometers long.

Additionally, 301 rockfall events, two pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) and one volcanic earthquakes were recorded by Phivolcs in their 24hour observation from early morning of Friday and Tuesday.

Mayon was still under Alert Level 3 due to intensified magmatic unrest.

Meanwhile, the Office of Civil Defense

(OCD) said that they are ready for the possible Alert Level 4 status in anticipation of more activities from the volcano. OCD administrator and National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Ariel Nepomuceno said P1.3 billion worth of assistance was on standby.

Nepomuceno said the government has prepared for the basic needs of affected residents such as food, water, hygiene kits, and others.

On the other hand, Daraga municipal health officer Dr. Edna Freya Tan has given assurance that the local government has bolstered its continuous COVID-19 prevention and control efforts amid the first case of COVID-positive evacuee in the evacuation center.

Since the confirmation of the first COVID-positive evacuee on June 19, the Department of Health Bicol Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) encouraged the evacuees to get primary vaccinations and booster shots.

Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol said they were still closely monitoring the volcano’s activity, especially its parameters—the bases for downgrading or raising its alert status.

Alert Level 3 stays over the volcano, meaning to say that there remains a relatively high unrest and an increased tendency toward hazardous eruption.

“What we see are low-level parameters, largely similar to its 2014 effusive eruption,” he said.

“Effusive eruption involves the gentle release of lava on the edifice of the volcano,” he added.

Over the past 24 hours, the Mayon Volcano Network said very slow effusion of lava from its summit crater continued to feed lava flows and collapse debris on the Mi-isi (south) and Bonga (southeastern) gullies.

“Continuous moderate degassing from the summit crater produced steam-laden plumes that rose 800 meters before drifting to the general west,” it said. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission averaged 389 tons/day on June 19 as compared with June 18›s 889 tons/day.

Phivolcs said the residents living within the permanent danger zone must remain at the evacuation centers.

Lawmaker asks DOTr to defer LRT fare hike

CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte on Tuesday made a last-ditch appeal for the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to put off the planned fare increases in Metro Manila’s rail transit systems, saying the people were still reeling from the effects of runaway inflation that sent prices of oil and basic commodities rocketing sky high.

“I am making an 11th-hour appeal for the deferment of the planned fare adjustments by the three train lines in Metro Manila as ordinary commuters continue to reel from the persistent elevated inflation brought about primarily by high oil and food prices,” Villafuerte said.

He was reacting to reports that the DOTr and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) were raising fares at LRT Lines 1 and 2 beginning Aug. 2.

AMMONIA LEAK