Manila: As the haze from Indonesia’s forest fires continues to blanket part of the Philippines, the government on Monday advised Filipinos in affected areas to stay indoors and take necessary precautions.

In an advisory issued by the presidential palace, the palace said it is taking steps to counter the effects of haze or “smaze.”

The advisory asked the residents, especially in Mindanao and Visayas, to stay indoors, wear dust masks, refrain from physical activities and exercise extreme caution when using the road.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said air quality monitoring is being carried out in areas such as Davao, Cotabato, Zamboanga and other provinces.

“The environment department, along with representatives from smaze affected countries, are also set to meet with Indonesia by the end of the month,” he said on Sunday in an interview aired by government radio station dzRB.

He said government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Health and Department of Transportation and Communication as well as local disaster risk reduction management councils, are working together to deal with the situation.

Since October 22, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) observed a thick haze enveloping portions of Mindanao and some islands in the Visayas. This Monday, reports said that the smaze had already reached portions of Palawan in the western part of the country.

Acting PAGASA administrator Vicente Malano said the thick haze “began to manifest late September particularly during occurrence of tropical cyclones in north western Pacific areas.”

“Wind analysis using the Haze Information Portal of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Specialised Meteorological Centre based in Singapore suggests that equatorial winds enhanced by Typhoon Koppu has reached the Philippines. This may have caused the smaze coming from peatland forest fires in Indonesia to drift over the Philippines,” Malano said.

The Philippines had just emerged from the effects of the recent typhoon Koppu.

The presence of smaze had led to the cancellation of several domestic flights last over the past three days.

Huge forest fires are not much of a serious concern in the Philippines, a country with islands surrounded by water. However, it suffered from haze in 1997 to 1998 during the forest fires that raged in Indonesia.

The forest fires are also an effect of the long dry weather, El Niño.

“Countries in Western Pacific such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines and others experienced hot and dry climate, resulting to forest and peatland fires similar to the 1997-98 El Nino,” Malano said.