Coast Guard cancels sea trips in Negros, Siquijor

BACOLOD, Philippines – As of 3 am Wednesday, October 23, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Negros and Siquijor Islands cancelled all season trips for sea vessels with tonnage 250 and below.

In an advisory at 8 am Wednesday, Commodore Jansen Benjamin, commander of the Coast Guard Northern Negros Occidental, said all passengers vessels — fast crafts and ROROs (roll-on/roll-off) transiting Negros Occidental to Panay, Cebu and Guinaras, vice versa have already been cancelled.

Benjamin said his agency immediately cancelled sea trips in the entire province due to the inclement weather brought by Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami).

Sea trips in Dumaguete and Siquijor going to and from Cebu and Bohol were also cancelled.

Meanwhile, a total of 773 public and private schools in 17 out of 31 localities in Negros Occidental have also suspended face-to-face classes on Wednesday.

These schools that cancelled classes belong to the divisions of Negros Occidental, Bacolod, Kabankalan, Cadiz, Himamaylan, Escalante and San Carlos.

Due to flash floods in the cities of Cadiz , Bago and Bacolod, 440 families were forcibly evacuated since Monday, October 21.

Of the number, 268 in Cadiz, 61 in Bago and 111 in Bacolod.

Except from Cadiz where some evacuees  have  started to return home as of Wednesday, those in Bago and Bacolod opted to remain at evacuation centers due to threat still posed Kristine. Bago Mayor Nicholas Yulo told Rappler that they will not risk allowing their evacuees to go home while there was still a tropical cyclone.

Bacolod’s Jose Evram Vera, local disaster risk reduction and management officer II, also told Rappler that their 111 family evacuees from Barangay Sum-ag were also informed to remain in the evacuation center in the barangay.

“Since bad weather brought about by ‘Kristine’ continues to be in effect in Bacolod and Negros Ocidental, we’ve alerted all the 61 barangays in the city for possible flooding anywhere. That’s why we will not allow our current evacuees to go home yet for safety reason,” Vera added.

On Monday, two barangays in Bacolod — Sum-ag and Pahanocoy — were hit by an early morning flash floods that also caused “monster traffic” on a national highway south of the capital city.

Due to a heavy downpour on Sunday evening, a scheduled concert of singer-song writer Moira de la Torre supposedly to be held at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) grounds was cancelled.

Main sponsor Bingo Plus, in a public advisory, said the reason why it cancelled De la Torre’s concert, which was still in line with the ongoing MassKara Festival was because they cannot afford to risk public safety.

On Saturday, October 19, the ABS-CBN Kapamilya Caravan held at the Ayala Malls parking lot with actor Coco Martin or “Tanggol” of the teleserye “Batang Quiapo” also hit a snag when one of the tents was toppled by heavy rains and strong winds.

No one was hurt, but the incident caused panic among spectators who earlier took a temporary refuge under the ill-fated tent amid heavy downpour.

Flooding outside of SM City-Bacolod also becomes a recurring problem for several days  still because of continuous rains.

The DPWH-Bacolod said the floods were caused by two unfinished major projects within the area. These included the diversion channel and flood control system, which are both nearing completion. – Rappler.com