By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Several ferry companies in Bacolod City and other parts of Negros Occidental were forced to suspend their trips yesterday due to bad weather conditions.

Coast Guard District-Western Visayas spokesperson, Commander Jansen Benjamin said the captains of the M/V Ocean Jet 5 of OceanJet Fast Ferries Corporation and M/V City of Masbate of Montenegro Shipping Lines were forced to halt their Bacolod-Iloilo and vice versa trips around 2:00 p.m. due to inclement weather.

M/V Balt Bep Journeys, which operates a ferry link between Negros Occidental’s Cadiz City and Cebu province’s Bantayan Island, was also forced to cancel their trips.

NaviMar Shipping also postponed their afternoon trips between the province’s Pulupandan town and Guimaras’ Sibunag town due to big waves.

E.B. Aznar Shipping Corporation also forwarded a letter to the Coast Guard Substation in Negros Occidental’s San Carlos City to also postpone their trips bound for Cebu’s Toledo City.

According to the state weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the low pressure area (LPA) they were tracking was located 1,050 kilometers east of Mindanao and is moving west-northwest towards the eastern portion of the Visayas.

PAGASA says the LPA still has a low likelihood of developing into a tropical depression.

The LPA’s trough will bring light to moderate with at times heavy rains affecting Visayas.

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with light rain will be experienced in the Visayas, while sea conditions will be rough to very rough, PAGASA said./DGB, WDJ