BACOLOD CITY (PIA) — Government agencies in the Negros Island Region (NIR) are on alert and ready to provide aid after Kanlaon Volcano’s moderate eruption early morning, May 13.
From securing voters and polling places during the 2025 National and Local Elections (NLE), the Police Regional Office (PRO)-NIR has shifted its focus to disaster response.
PRO-NIR Regional Director Police Brigadier General (PBGen) Arnold Thomas Ibay said that local police stations are closely coordinating with the local disaster risk reduction and management councils (LDRRMCs) in providing the needed evacuation, relief, and security operations.
Data from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC)-Emergency Operations Center (EOC) showed that eleven cities and municipalities are being affected by ashfall and sulfuric smell.
Affected areas include La Carlota City, La Castellana, Bago City, San Carlos City, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Valladolid, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, including the highly populated, highly urbanized city of Bacolod.
The five-minute eruption, which began at 02:55 a.m., emitted grayish voluminous plumes that rose approximately 4.5 kilometers above the vent before drifting southwest.
It also generated incandescent pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) that descended to the southern slopes of the volcano, reaching approximately two kilometers, and produced large ballistic fragments thrown around the crater within a few hundred meters.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Alert Level 3, indicative of increased magmatic unrest, prevails over Kanlaon Volcano. (AGP/BPS/PIA Negros Occidental)
