01 October 2008, ATN
TROPICAL STORM “PABLO” HIT EASTERN Samar yesterday, dumping rain over several provinces in the Visayas and Luzon.
President Macapagal-Arroyo was forced to cancel her Cabinet meeting in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and chose to travel to Tacloban City in Leyte for an emergency meeting of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council later in the evening.
Pablo, packing peak winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gusting up to 80 kph, was expected to make landfall between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., forecasters said.
In Bicol, 1,758 passengers were stranded, the Coast Guard reported at 4 p.m.
A total of 35 trucks, 20 cars, 46 buses, and four sea vessels were forced to stay in the ports in Pasacao, Camarines Sur; Tabaco City, Albay; Virac, Catanduanes; and in the towns of Bulan, Matnog and Pilar in Sorsogon.
Port authorities in Matnog suspended all vessels going to Allen port in Samar on Monday midnight, leaving over a thousand passengers stranded there, according to SPO2 Narciso Juntereal of the Highway Patrol Command.
In its morning bulletin yesterday, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) raised Signal No. 2 over the Samar provinces, Leyte and Biliran island.
Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Ticao Island, Burias Island, Romblon, southern Quezon, southern Leyte, Capiz, Aklan, northern Iloilo, northern Negros, northern Cebu, Surigao del Norte, Siargao and Dinagat Islands.
“These areas will experience stormy weather. It’s rainy with strong winds,” forecaster Joel Jesusa said in a phone interview. “People in these areas should expect rain and gusty winds, from 30 kph to 60 kph,” he said.
At 10 a.m., the storm was swirling over the Philippine Sea some 140 km east-southeast of Guiuan. Moving west-northwest at 15 kph, it was forecast to be near Catbalogan, Samar, today.
Pagasa alerted people living in low-lying areas and mountain slopes against flash floods and landslides, and those living in coastal areas under signal No. 2 against big waves and storm surges.
The rest of Luzon, including Metro Manila, will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rains and thunderstorms.
The President attended the 107th Balangiga Encounter, considered the biggest single victory of the Filipinos during the Filipino-American War, as planned. She is the first President to ever grace the commemoration of the historic event.
On Sept. 28, 1901, hundreds of native fighters, mostly wielding bolos, surprised soldiers of Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment in an attack meant to free 80 men being used for forced labor.
Speaking during the commemoration, Ms Arroyo recognized the tourism potentials of Western Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.
The tourism industry of the three provinces still lag behind their neighbors due to the lack of infrastructure and tourism-related facilities, as well as the insurgency problem, she said.
The President said she had directed the Department of Public Works and Highways to pave the major roads and highways of the Samar Island so that it would become accessible.
She revealed plans to rehabilitate the old but unused airport in Guiuan to serve as a gateway to the island.
“These roads and airports are expected to boost both the local and foreign tourism,” she said.
Ms Arroyo said she had instructed National Security Adviser Secretary Norberto Gonzales to create the Leyte-Samar Peace and Security Council to address the peace and order problem in the area. Ephraim Aguilar and Roy Gersalia, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and TJ Burgonio in Manila.
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