By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz
MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has reported no more stranded passengers in ports nationwide after Super Typhoon Pepito (international name Man-yi).
In its maritime safety advisory as of Monday noon, the PCG said these include passengers, vessels, rolling cargoes, and motor bancas.
“All shipping and fishing operations resume their normal operations,” it said.
The number of stranded peaked on Sunday, with 3,541 passengers, 1,484 rolling cargoes, 15 vessels, and 17 motor bancas stranded in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Southern Tagalog, Central Visayas, and Western Visayas.
In addition, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported only one canceled trip as of Monday noon, the St. Francis Xavier (Cebu-Ozamis-Butuan) in PMO NCR North due to rough sea conditions.
In a radio interview, PPA General Manager Jay Daniel Santiago said Matnog Port has also resumed regular operations despite long queues caused by several days of suspensions brought on by Pepito.
He noted that the number of stranded passengers nationwide during Pepito was relatively low compared to similar incidents in the past due to coordination with local government units (LGUs) that helped evacuate stranded passengers from ports due to storm surge warnings.
“Kung may storm surge peligroso po na nandun tayo sa terminal, so medyo mababa po yung stranded passengers natin dyan (If there’s a storm surge it’s dangerous in a port terminal. So there’s relatively low number of stranded passengers there),” Santiago said.
To date, he said two ports suffered superficial damage due to the typhoon, the San Andres Port and Virac Port.
“Like nabasag yun glass door, or natuklap yun bubong, but otherwise usable po ang ating pantalan dun sa dinaanan ni bagyong Pepito (For example there is a broken glass door or a lifted roof, but otherwise out ports remain usable in areas hit by typhoon Pepito),” he said. (PNA)
