PCG units on heightened alert as Taal Volcano placed on Alert Level 3
All operating units of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Station Batangas were placed on full alert status after Alert Level 3 was raised over the Taal Volcano on Thursday, July 1.
PCG Commodore Tito Andal, commander of Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog, has placed all personnel and assets of PCG Station Batangas and Operational Control units on standby to prepare for the possible evacuation of the residents near the Taal Volcano area after it generated a kilometer-high phreatomagmatic plume.

“Likewise, contingency plan, movement routes, augmentation, and other matters, in coordination with Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), are in order and already disseminated with other Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog units,” Andal said in a statement.
From Alert Level 2 or “increasing unrest,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised the volcano’s alert status to Alert Level 3 or “magmatic unrest” after the Taal’s main crater “generated a short-lived dark phreatomagmatic plume 1 kilometer-high with no accompanying volcanic earthquake.”
“The public is reminded that the entire Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and entry into the island as well as high-risk barangays of Agoncillo and Laurel is prohibited,” the Phivolcs said.
READ MORE: Alert Level 3 raised over Taal Volcano