MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte is “satisfied” with the work of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), his spokesman said Thursday, after a lawmaker called for an investigation into the supposed lack of government alerts before the Taal Volcano eruption.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo also lauded Phivolcs director Renato Solidum for properly explaining the Taal Volcano situation.

“Magaling nga itong si Director Solidum eh. Mahusay magpaliwanag,” Panelo told reporters in Malacañang.

(Director Solidum is great. He explains well.)

Panelo, however, noted that the Palace could not prevent Congress from investigating Phivolcs over supposed shortcomings.

“Nasa kanila ‘yon (That’s up to them). We cannot stop them, discourage them,” he said.

During a visit to evacuees on Wednesday, Duterte also lauded the government’s disaster response efforts and highlighted that there were no fatalities recorded when the volcano ejected steam and gray ash last Sunday.

“I am very satisfied with the response of everybody and the fact that no one was killed and no one is really very sick,” the President said.

• Duterte says ‘very satisfied’ with gov’t response to Taal eruption

Phivolcs also denied claims that its warnings about Taal Volcano’s eruption came too late.

“There are 6,000 people on the island. Nobody was injured, no one died,” Solidum said Wednesday. “It’s amazing. We should thank God nothing happened.”

As of Thursday, Taal Volcano remains under alert level 4 in a 5-step alert level crisis, which means that a “hazardous” eruption is possible within “hours to days."