The haze from fires in Indonesia is now becoming very visible in Palawan and other parts of the country raising concerns about aviation safety and health risks.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has identified the province of Palawan as one of the areas in the country affected by haze.
PAGASA said yesterday that light to moderate haze was covering the southern city of Zamboanga, the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete in Central Visayas, and Palawan.
Authorities were verifying other areas that may also have been affected. It explained that haze blown by monsoon winds has begun affecting some areas of the country.
One of the residents of Puerto Princesa sent photos taken from the Puerto Princesa City Airport’s runway on Saturday, September 21, which has low visibility.
PAGASA further said that if visibility is affected, airport officials and airlines may cancel flights because of safety concerns.
An aviation official in Puerto Princesa City International Airport said that there are no cancelled flight due to haze but there are flight delays possibly due to the low visibility.
“Wala namang na-cancel pero na-de delay ang mga flights. Mayroong 30 minutes to one hour na delay sa mga flights. Posibleng ito ang dahilan dahil kasama ang Palawan nyan,” said Raul Delima, area chief supervisor of Civil Aviation Authority in the Philippine (CAAP) in Puerto Princesa City.
The City Environment and Natural Resources Office (City ENRO) issued an advisory yesterday and told the public to take precautions when going out by wearing a protective mask. Prolonged exposure to haze may cause respiratory health hazard especially those who are suffering from respiratory ailments.
Atty. Carlo B. Gomez, the City Environment and Natural Resources Officer, said that they issued the advisory to advice the public to take precautions based on the result of air quality monitoring station in Palawan State University (PSU).
“Base sa monitoring machine sa PSU lumabas sya doon sa normal standards. To take precautionary measures sa prolonged exposure (ng haze) mag wear lang ng protective mask kasi itong haze anytime maaring pumasok sya sa ating respiratory system kaya nag- labas tayo ng advisory,” he explained.