Cebu Daily News / News

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'Quinta' stalls 300 passengers By Jhunnex Napallacan Cebu Daily News Posted date: November 07, 2008 At least 300 passengers were stranded in Cebu ports yesterday amid strong winds and rain of tropical depresssion Quinta. Power supply went out on Bantayan Island and parts of northern Cebu. The Coast Guard in Cebu barred 99 passenger and cargo vessels from leaving port after Storm Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Cebu City and province and most of the Visayas. The storm alert was lifted at 5 p.m. Most public and private schools in Cebu suspended classes in the pre-school and elementary levels. The entry of Quinta, however, caught most Cebu officials by surprise. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), which said the weather deteriorated quickly, was blamed for failing to raise early alerts. By the time Pag-asa Mactan raised Storm Signal No. 1 in Cebu and other parts of the Visayas, Quinta had already brought strong winds and rains. Vice Mayor Dale Escario of Bantayan town on Bantayan Island said they were only informed of the typhoon around 9 a.m. through the Coast Guard, followed by a faxed copy of the weather bulletin from Pagasa at 10:03 a.m. By 10 a.m., he said Bantayan Island was already experiencing strong winds and rain. “We are appealing to Pagasa through the media to please do their task in the proper and appropriate time so we can prepare,” Escario said. The whole island was hit by a blackout about 10 a.m. yesterday and power was still to be restored, he said. Brownouts also hit Bogo City and Daanbantayan in northern Cebu at 10 a.m. Bogo’s power was restored at 6 p.m. Vice Mayor Escario said they were alerted about the tropical depression about noon. “When we got the information, the storm had already left our town,” Torquido said. Fortunately, Quinta just uprooted some trees in Bogo and did not leave serious damage, he said. A fishing boat in the coastal village of Bateriya was destroyed by strong winds, reported PO1 Columbus Noynay Jr. of the Daanbantayan Police Office Uprooted trees were also reported on Camotes Island. Cebu Coast Guard authorities suspended the voyage of 51 passenger vessels, 14 motorized banca and 34 rolling cargoes. The suspension came at 10 a.m. because the Coast Guard relied on Pagasa’s weather bulletin, said Chief Petty Officer Roberto Muela, deputy commander of the Cebu City Coast Guard station. After the Princess of the Stars sinking in June, Muela said interim guidelines from the Coast Guard’s central office ordered that all vessels, regardless of gross tonnage, will not be allowed to sail in areas affected by storm signal number one. Muela said around 300 passengers were stranded in Cebu City until they lifted the suspension past 5 p.m., when Pagasa lifted the Storm Signal Number 1 over Cebu. Pagasa, in its 8 a.m. forecast announced over the radio, reported a low pressure area in Surigao. Many radio listeners called up to ask if there was a storm. Pagasa-Mactan said they issued an updated bulletin at 8:15 a.m. that the weather disturbance had developed into a tropical depression. By then, most students had already left for school. Under standing guidelines of the Department of Education (DepEd), classes in preparatory schools would be suspended in an area placed under storm signal number one. Storm signal number 2 would automatically suspend classes in the elementary and secondary levels. School principals, however, have the discretion to suspend classes at any time if they see danger posed for the students. Oscar Tabada, chief of Pagasa Mactan, said weathermen were tracking early yesterday an active low pressure area which developed into a tropical depression in just a few hours. Because of this, he said, Pagasa released a weather bulletin at 8:15 a.m. instead of waiting for its regular 10 a.m. cycle of releasing weather forecast. Tabada said they notified various agencies, including the Coast Guard, and the media about the tropical depression so that the public would be alerted Bad weather spawned by Quinta also forced Cebu Pacific to divert to Iloilo its Bacolod-bound flight. Cebu Pacific flight 5J 126 left the Mactan-Cebu International Airport at 8:20 a.m. and was to arrive in Bacolod in Negros Occidental shortly before 9 a.m. but it had to be diverted to Iloilo due to bad weather, an airline press statement said yesterday. The needs of the flight’s 56 passengers were being addressed and they would be ferried to Bacolod this morning, said RG Orense, Cebu Pacific Corporate Communications officer. Passengers affected by the Bacolod-Cebu flight cancellation will be accommodated in other flights to Cebu via Manila, it added. Vice Mayor Escario said Pag-asa should upgrade its typhoon forecast facilities . With a report from Bernadette Parco, editorial assistant