An electric cooperative (EC) in Batangas province has imposed forced power shutdown as a safety measure to two municipalities due to the effects of the volcanic activity of Taal Volcano, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) said Tuesday (January 14). 

As of 12 noon Tuesday, the Batangas I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC I) reported to the NEA Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department (DRRMD) that the towns of Agoncillo and San Nicolas are on forced shutdown, affecting 12,850 households.

BATELEC I also reported that Sta. Teresita and portions of Calaca and San Luis are without power caused by tripping of circuit feeder due to the heavy ashfall. 

Meanwhile, the Batangas II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC II) said partial restoration of power to Tanauan City. Of the 43,786 households in Tanauan City affected by the outages due to the eruption, 45.65 percent or 19,989 households have had their power restored. About 23,797 consumers remain without power.

As of Tuesday, power is still not restored to 16,286 households in the municipalities of Talisay and Laurel as the Batangas substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is still unavailable.  

Power situation in the following municipalities remains normal: Alitagtag, Balete, Cuenca, Lipa, Lobo, Mabini, Malvar, Mataas na Kahoy, Padre Garcia, Rosario, San Jose, San Juan, Taysan, and Tingloy. 

The NEA-DRRMD had directed all ECs in Luzon and Visayas to take appropriate contingency measures to mitigate the impact of the volcanic eruption on their electric services to consumers. 

The ECs were also ordered to activate their respective Emergency Response Organization (ERO) when the need arises to implement without delay appropriate emergency response plans.

Alert Level 4 still remains in effect over Taal Volcano, which means that “hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days,” PHIVOLCS said in its 1 p.m. update on Tuesday. 

New fissures or cracks were observed in Sinisian, Mahabang Dahilig, Dayapan, Palanas, Sangalang, Poblacion, Lemery; Pansipit, Agoncillo; Poblacion 1, Poblacion 2, Poblacion 3, Poblacion 5, Talisay and Poblacion, San Nicolas. A fissure was also documented across the road connecting Agoncillo to Laurel, Batangas.

The Philippine Seismic Network recorded a total of 49 volcanic earthquakes in the Taal region from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesday – seven of which were felt with intensities ranging from Intensity II to IV in Tagaytay City. 

“The intense seismic activity coupled with fissuring on the caldera region likely signifies continuous magma intrusion beneath the Taal edifice, which may lead to further eruptive activity,” PHIVOLCS said.