Philippines cancels flights, alerts hospitals over haze

“Don’t underestimate the ill effects of haze”.

ASIDE from the cancelled flights, officials in Mindanao and the Visayas have raised concerns on the public health impact of the haze from Indonesian forest fires that has reached the Philippines.

“The air quality in Davao City is still within the good to fair level according to the Environmental Management Board and that is within 0-55 micrograms per cubic meter (/cu.m.) for good and 55-154 micrograms per cubic meter for fair and this means we can still conduct normal activities”, said Gloria O. Raut, senior health program officer of the Department of Health-Region 11 (DoH-11) during the Hermes Club media forum here last Friday.

The Maguindanao Airport, which services the Cotabato flights, was shut down on October. 17 after strong winds brought in the haze.

Commercial flights here have resumed after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) gave the green light for PAL and Cebu Pacific to resume air travel to Cotabato, Pagasa on Saturday said.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said the haze also prevented prospective investors from visiting the island province of Basilan using a helicopter due to thick haze the blanketed Zamboanga and Basilan provinces.

The Philippines cancelled flights and put hospitals on alert on Sunday, October 25, as its southern and central islands were covered by thickening haze from the Indonesian forest fires.

In Bohol, hundreds of Manila-bound passengers rushed to the neighboring Cebu island as all Manila-Tagbilaran flights were rerouted to the Mactan-Cebu global airport.

“Since Manila airport is operating at its full capacity of 40 landings and take-offs per hour, any delay involving Mindanao flights disrupts the aircraft queue for the rest of the day”, he added.

Forecaster Victor Flores of the state-run weather bureau believed the problem was aggravated by typhoon Koppu (local codename Lando) by drawing the haze towards it as it devastated the main island of Luzon. “This is expected to continue”, Mendoza said.

“Sick people have been advised to wear face mask in places where there is haze to avoid getting respiratory diseases”, he said.

The Philippine government reminded Sunday residents in southern part of the country to take necessary measures, such as wearing masks, amid the haze coming from Kalimantan, Indonesia.

“The content [of the smoke] is not that much but even small amounts of ash could trigger an asthma attack, or cardio-pulmonary obstructive disease”, he told AFP.