Article by:
Azer Parrocha
MANILA – President Rodrigo R. Duterte said it is “prudent” to keep classes suspended in areas within Taal Volcano’s 7-km. danger zone.
In the second part of the prerecorded Talk to the People that was aired Wednesday morning, he made this remark after Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones said classes have been suspended in at least 19 schools in Batangas for the protection of the students.
“Dito sa Batangas ay ‘yung mga schools na identified as permanent danger zones, ‘yung na-identify na they are already compromised, they could be compromised ‘pag mag-escalate ang ating pagputok ng volcano, nag-suspend tayo ng classes (Here in Batangas, schools that have been identified as permanent danger zones could be compromised if the eruption escalates. That’s why we suspended classes),” Briones said.
Duterte agreed with Briones, noting that communities affected by the crisis must immediately get back to normalcy first.
“Normalcy must be achieved there. Pagka hindi pa normal situation (If the situation is not yet normal), then it would be on the side of prudence na huwag na natin i-expose 'yung mga anak (for us not to expose our children),” he said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Taal Volcano’s status to Alert Level 3 after its phreatomagmatic eruption on Saturday.
Alert Level 3 means there is magmatic unrest within the volcano.
Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum earlier said the Alert Level 3 declared over Taal Volcano may be lowered to Alert Level 2 if eruptions stop in the next two weeks.
In January, Duterte approved the expansion of limited face-to-face (F2F) classes in areas under Covid-19 Alert Levels 1 and 2.
The DepEd recommended a "progressive expansion" of limited in-person classes by February wherein only teaching and non-teaching staff who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) would be allowed to participate.
DepEd's pilot run of physical classes ended on December 22 wherein more than 200 schools conducted classes for about 15,000 students.
Batangas is under Covid-19 Alert Level 1 until the end of March. (PNA)
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