Over 700 stranded at Bredco Port

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

More than 700 passengers bound for Iloilo and Manila are stranded at the Bredco Port in Bacolod yesterday due to the expected landfall of Tropical Depression “Usman.”

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Bacolod station commander, Lieutenant Commander Ludovico Librilla, said they will not allow any vessel to leave port until the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) lifts the storm signal over Negros Occidental and Iloilo.

Based on the weather bulletin issued by PAGASA at 2:00 p.m. yesterday, “Usman” was reportedly moving erratically and remained stationary at 250 kilometers east of Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

The storm has maximum sustained winds recorded at 55 kilometers per hour (kph), with gusts up to 65 kph.

Librilla said, as part of the relief effort for stranded passengers, the PCG, along with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Philippine Red Cross, and Bacolod City Department of Social Services and Development provided free hot meals, medical assistance, and mobile charging at the PCG Bredco sub-station.

The Red Cross also detailed one of their mobile soup kitchens at the Simplicio A. Palanca Terminal in order to provide food for stranded Manila-bound passengers.

Librilla and the PPA also held a closed-door meeting with Bredco officials in order to arrange a possible transfer for Dumangas-bound passengers to the new terminal in order to shelter them from the heavy rains and winds.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office officer-in-charge Dondon Parandas, meanwhile, offered the Bacolod BAYS Center as another area where stranded passengers may be sheltered. However, officials later decided to transfer stranded passengers to Education Training Center School IV in Barangay 16.

PCG and PPA personnel are also roaming terminal areas to check on the passenger conditions as well as to answer any inquiries./DGB, WDJ