Some vendors took advantage of the high demand for N95 masks due to Taal ashfall, which started yesterday.
Acting Manila City Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan warned business people who capitalized on selling overpriced of face masks.
According to Lacuna-Pangan, complaints reached the office that the price of N95 Masks has increased in various markets in Manila after Taal ashfall.
From P25 to P30, a piece of N95 Mask allegedly now cost P200.
Lacuna-Pangan has also commissioned the Manila Bureau of Permits and the Manila Licenses Office to conduct inspections on businesses selling N95 Mask.
Also read: 75 volcanic earthquakes recorded in Taal Volcano
After ashfall, Taal spews lava fountain
Taal Volcano spewed lava fountain after it released ash column, which affected CALABARZON and Region 3 provinces yesterday.
Ma Antonia Bornas, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology volcano monitoring division, said volcanic activity weakened slightly at 2:49 a.m.
“We noticed a lava fountain at the main crater. The lava fountain finished at 430 a.m. It is now emitting steam plume,” she said in radio DZMM.
Government agencies suspended classes and work while airports canceled flights to prepare for Taal Volcano’s “explosive eruption” within hours or days.
Thousands of residents near Taal Volcano were evacuated after it spewed an around 15 km (nine miles) column of steam and ash into the sky. Volcanic lightning, rumbling, and tremors also shook the nearby areas.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said that as of 3:20 a.m., ashfall from the volcano has fallen in Tanauan, Batangas; Escala, Tagaytay; Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Dasmarinas, Bacoor, Silang, Cavite; Malolos, San Jose Del Monte, Meycauayan, Bulacan; Antipolo, Rizal; Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, Marikina, Paranaque, Pasig, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Manila, Makati City, and Taguig City.
“Large rock fragments (lapilli) with diameters 2 to 64mm has fallen in Tanauan, Talisay, Batangas; Tagaytay City; Nuvali and Sta. Rosa, Laguna,” NDRRMC also said in its nationwide advisory.