Storm forces class suspension on school opening

As tropical storm "Frank" intensified yesterday, school officials in affected areas were forced to suspend classes on the first day of the schoolyear for elementary students.

At 4 p.m. yesterday, the eye of the storm was located at 170 kilometers west-southwest of Vigan, Ilocos Sur with strongest sustained center winds of 105 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 135 kph.

Frank (international name Conson), moving northeast at seven kph, is forecast to be 170 kilometers west-southwest of Basco, Batanes by tomorrow afternoon and 90 kilometers northwest of Basco by Thursday afternoon.

Public Storm Signal No. 3 is in effect over Ilocos Norte, which will experience winds of 101 to 185 kph by 10 a.m. today. Officials declared that travel in the area by land, sea and air would be dangerous.

Public Storm Signal No. 2 remains hoisted over Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Abra, Apayao and northwestern Cagayan, including the Calayan group of islands. These areas will experience winds of 61 to 100 kph by 4 p.m. today. Travel by small sea vessels and all types of aircraft will be risky, according to weather officials.

Storm Signal No. 1 is in effect over Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Bataan, Zambales, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Ifugao, Mountain Province, western Isabela, Kalinga, Cagayan and Batanes. These areas will experience winds of 30 to 60 kph by 4 a.m. Wednesday. Officials said travel by small seacraft and fishing boats would be risky.

Officials warned that residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes of provinces affected by the storm should be on alert for flash floods and landslides.

Meanwhile, a tropical depression over the Caroline islands was estimated at 1,070 kilometers east of Mindanao at 2 p.m. yesterday, with maximum center winds of 55 kph and forecast to move west at 19 kph. Weather officials said this disturbance is still some distance away and will not affect any part of the Philippines.

While the effects of tropical storm Frank were hardly felt in Vigan yesterday, school officials suspended classes for elementary students. There were scattered rainshowers Sunday night and early morning Monday, but the weather cleared by early afternoon.

Education officials, because of the fair weather, had given the heads of schools throughout the Ilocos province the discretion to suspend classes. Rules laid out by the Department of Education indicate that classes in elementary and high school levels are automatically suspended when Public Storm Signal No. 1 is declared.

Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus said despite the storm signal hoisted over Metro Manila, some public elementary schools still pushed through with the opening of classes.

"It’s really the decision of the principals," he told The STAR.

De Jesus pointed out that school principals are in a better position to know if streets leading to their respective schools are flooded, necessitating the suspension of classes. He added that the ultimate decision on whether students should go to school actually rests on the parents.

Education officials also reminded local officials to exercise their authority to suspend classes, particularly in schools situated at low-lying areas.

Education Undersecretary Ramon Bacani said there was a three to four percent increase in the number of students attending public elementary schools compared to last year.

"This is mostly because parents who have been sending their kids to private schools have found an improvement in the quality of education in the public school system," he said.

Prepared for Evacuation

Tarlac Gov. Jose Yap noted that while there has been no report yet on calamities or flooding due to the heavy rains brought by tropical storm Frank, he said his office has issued a warning to residents of low-lying areas "to be always prepared" to evacuate.

Yap said the areas that are prone to flooding during the rainy season include the riverside villages of San Isidro, Sinait and Sta. Maria in Tarlac City; San Jose and Malayep in Gerona; and communities along Tarlac River in Paniqui, as well as villages near the Rio Chico River separating the provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

Yap added that he has placed the provincial disaster coordinating council, headed by retired brigadier general Virgilio Florendo, on a 24-hour alert to ensure that its personnel will be on hand should any untoward incident happen as a consequence of Frank’s onslaught.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command, based at Camp Gen. Servillano Aquino in Tarlac City, has put one of its helicopters on standby for airlifting operations. The Nolcom has also alerted the Naval Forces North of the Philippine Navy.

Winds spawned by tropical storm Frank tore two wooden houses off their foundations in Barangay Sto. Rosario in Iba, Zambales. Evelyn Manalo, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) spokeswoman in Central Luzon, said the Castillo and Adella families were able to flee unharmed as the storm destroyed their respective houses. They are now staying with relatives.

Despite five days of almost non-stop rains, only Barangays San Pablo in Castillejos, New San Juan in Cabangan, and Ibaba in Palauig — all in Zambales — reported flooding, according to the DSWD. The families, however, opted to stay in their homes, Manalo said.

Manalo added that the DSWD in Central Luzon has 1,000 relief bags containing canned goods and used clothes for any emergency needs in the region. She stressed that DSWD stocks will only augment the needs of local government units authorized to use their calamity funds during natural disasters.

She said the DSWD welcomes donations of toys for children of families displaced by the floods during the rainy season. She suggested dolls, balls, coloring books, pencils and crayons to "entertain the children and cushion the impact of their difficulties in evacuation centers."

Strong currents breached a section of the dike lining the Pampanga River and caused flooding at Barangay San Vicente in Macabebe, Pampanga. The damage was immediately repaired by a team from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), led by director Ramon Aquino.

Aquino told The STAR that unlike past years, most of Pampanga has remained free of floods despite the heavy rains brought by tropical storm Frank.

"We had done our best to repair dikes and clear channels during the dry months, and now it seems to be paying off," he said.

Aquino said the DPWH in Central Luzon has ceased to employ private contractors for these projects. "We use our own personnel and equipment to repair dikes and upgrade channels so as to minimize on cost," he said.

Silt builds up in most river channels in Pampanga and other parts of Luzon during the rainy season from lahar that continues to flow from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo since its eruption in 1991. While government scientists say that the serious lahar threat is over, the flooding triggered by lahar siltation of local water channels still remains.

Aquino said his office will need at least P20 million annually for fuel, equipment maintenance, and salaries of workers for the repair of dikes and desilting of water channels during the dry months. The DPWH has 10 bulldozers, 10 dredgers, and several backhoes that are well-maintained.

At Infanta town in Pangasinan, 26-year-old fisherman Hector Bernachea was reported missing at 10 a.m. yesterday to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council in Lingayen.

Bernachea, a resident of Barangay Cato, and six other fishermen went fishing Sunday noon along the Lingayen Gulf on board a motorized fishing boat owned by Reynaldo Cuatos. Bernachea’s six companions were marooned in the waters between Bolinao and Agno towns after their motorized banca malfunctioned, and he reportedly fell overboard.

DPWH and police personnel were dispatched to monitor the condition of the landslide-prone Dalton Pass and the Nueva Vizcaya-Benguet road in the southeastern part of Nueva Vizcaya.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, provincial police director Senior Superintendent Felix Caddali said the two major highways, intermittently closed during typhoons, were still open to all types of vehicles.

Dalton Pass, in the mountainous town of Santa Fe, is the threshold to Cagayan Valley and connects the region to the rest of Luzon. Caddali, a member of the PDCC, advised commuters going to and from the valley to refrain from making any trips in the meantime. — Rainier Allan Ronda, Felix delos Santos, Benjie Villa, Ding Cervantes, Eva Visperas, Charlie Lagasca, Teddy Molina