Over 10,000 residents in Negros Occidental were evacuated as Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) warns of possible "hazardous eruption in the coming weeks."

"Alert Level 3 means that a hazardous eruption is possible in the coming weeks. So, yes, the possibility that there may be another eruption is still there. That's the reason why we raised it to Alert Level 3," Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said in a television interview on Tuesday.

Maria Cristina Mayor of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Visayas said a total of 11,720 persons or 3,470 families were evacuated as of 1 pm.

Mayor said the displaced population are residents of 19 barangay's in the cities of Bago and La Carlota, as well as in the municipalities of Pontevedra, La Castellana, Murcia and Moises Padilla.

She noted that "the most affected is the municipality of La Castellana because it's near the crater," with a total of 2,455 families or 7,983 individuals evacuated from barangays Cabagnaan, Camandag, Sag-Ang, Biaknabato, Mansalanao, Masulog, Manghanoy and Robles.

Mayor said the ash fall has reached the province of "Guimaras, Iloilo, and Antique".

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said around 54,000 people will be evacuated.

He added that the residents' hesitation to leave their properties is one of the issues the government is facing on the ongoing evacuation of the affected families.

Teodoro noted that the alert level 3 will be maintained within three weeks but may raise to level 4 if the volcanic activity increases.

"There is a possibility that it will change depending on the actions of the volcano, and we are preparing for that either better or worse, if worse, it will increase to 10 km (danger zone) once raised to level 4," he said. Robina Asido/DMS