Phivolcs Director Clarifies Hot Springs in Batangas Are Common

The director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Teresito Bacolcol, stated on Friday that sightings of hot springs in Batangas are not out of the ordinary. He noted that reports of hot springs in the Barangays Sinisian and Calawang in Lemery have been documented as far back as 2014, well before the 2020 eruption of Taal Volcano. A recent video shared by a Facebook user, Imman Supremo, captured a hot spring at Sinisian East Beach, which has garnered over 105,000 views. Bacolcol explained that the presence of hot springs near volcanoes like Taal is due to the heat from magma deep within the earth. He further elaborated that in volcanic regions, the proximity of magma to the surface heats the ground, causing water to warm, rise, and eventually surface as hot springs.