The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology is appealing to lawmakers to pass legislation that will modernize the agency tasked to monitor two dozen active volcanoes and earthquake that occurs daily in an archipelago that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol told an interview of radio program Mag-Usap Tayo over DWIZ that of the 24 active volcanoes—or those that have erupted in the last 600 years–across the country, only the activity of 10 are monitored by the agency.
“And out of the 10 volcanoes we are monitoring, only two have complete monitoring systems—Taal and Mayon. We have a pending bill in Congress, Phivolcs Modernization. We’re hoping that if this bill will be passed, we could improve our manpower and equipment…not only for volcano monitoring but for earthquake as well,” Bacolcol said.
There are several bills pending in Congress supporting Phivolcs Modernization, including one with House Speaker Martin Romualdez as co-author. But the one mentioned by Bacolcol is the measure introduced by Albay Representative Joey Salceda, who noted the risks posed by volcanic eruptions and massive earthquakes on the lives and livehood of many Filipinos.
Bacolcol said Philvolcs will need around P7 billion over five years to completely modernize the institute to better monitor volcanic activities and earthquakes, and provide more accurate advise to leaders of affected areas.
Rep. Salceda’s bill only calls for a budget of P5 billion to support Phivolcs modernization.
Like many science agencies, personnel of Phivolcs personnel are targets of piracy, given their training and the low-pay that government gives them.
