Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian has ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Disaster Response Management Group to send more food packs to Negros Island in anticipation of the potential eruption of Mount Kanlaon, which erupted last December and remains on Alert Level 3.

In a press release, DSWD said Gatchalian had assured the department’s field offices in the Central and Western Visayas regions that additional food packs would start coming in.

“We will fill our provincial warehouses on the island to the brim,” DSWD quotes Gatchalian as saying.

He said that DSWD must make sure that 40,000 food packs are delivered to Negros Oriental and another 40,000 to Negros Occidental.

Food packs are meant to sustain families that have been displaced by disasters like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and floods.

“Check the maximum capacity for both sides of Kanlaon. I want maximum capacity for the warehouses of Negros Oriental and Occidental. So we have to be ready,” Gatchalian said.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), in a bulletin, reminded the public that Mount Kanlaon remains under Alert Level 3, which means there is “an increased chance for sudden explosive eruptions to occur and endanger communities at risk of life-threatening volcanic hazards.”

It said it has also monitored ground deformation at the volcano as well as continuing emissions of sulfur dioxide.

Phivolcs said these “may indicate that the shallow magma conduit of the volcano is undergoing pressurization that may lead to an eruption broadly similar to the December 9, 2024 event,” referring to the eruption last year. (ABS-CBN News)