- Capitol forum on Tuesday to set air quality rules for class suspensions
- Visayas grid on yellow alert for a third evening running
- Rain and thunderstorms expected from Monday to Thursday
- Cebu City and Mandaue line up police and medics for Kalag-Kalag
Capitol forum on Tuesday to set air quality rules for class suspensions
Governor Pamela Baricuatro has called doctors, DepEd, DENR-EMB, DOH, public and private schools, parent groups and mayors to an open forum at the Capitol Social Hall at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 October. The aim is a shared rule on which air quality readings should stop in-person classes, when schools should switch to other learning modes, and how to announce it early. Mayors will still decide suspensions in their own towns. Metro Cebu air read 128, unhealthy for sensitive groups, on 17 October, then eased to fair, 62 to 72, on 18 October.
Smog already stopped in-person classes in Carcar earlier this month, so the guidelines that come out of Tuesday's meeting will shape how and when parents here hear about the next suspension. Until then, watch the Carcar City and DepEd advisories, and keep children with asthma indoors and masked with a fitted N95 or KN95 when the air is rated unhealthy.
Sources: The Freeman, SunStar
Visayas grid on yellow alert for a third evening running
NGCP put the Visayas grid on yellow alert again from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, 18 October, after alerts on Friday and Saturday. Its morning advisory showed about 2,512 MW available against an expected peak of 2,354 MW. The same two coal units are still down, PEDC 3 in Panay and KSPC 1 in Naga, Cebu, a Mindanao-Visayas link is under maintenance, and about 655 MW is out from breakdowns and plants running below capacity.
A yellow alert is a warning that reserves are thin, not a brownout. CEBECO I, which serves most of Carcar, draws from this grid, so the evening hours from 5 to 8 p.m. are the time to keep phones and lights charged and to watch CEBECO I's page for any interruption notice.
Sources: GMA News, Peoples Taliba
Rain and thunderstorms expected from Monday to Thursday
Pagasa's weekly outlook, issued on 16 October, expects cloudy skies with scattered rain and thunderstorms over the Visayas from 19 to 22 October, brought by the trough of a tropical cyclone it expects to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility. It sees the rain easing to isolated afternoon or evening showers by 23 October. The outlook does not name the storm or give a date for it to enter.
Expect wet roads and slower trips on the highway into Cebu City this week, and keep drainage around the house clear. The rain will not undo the dry season Pagasa expects from late December, so it is a good week to fill water drums. Check Pagasa's daily bulletin in case the storm's track changes.
Source: Pagasa (weekly weather outlook)
Cebu City and Mandaue line up police and medics for Kalag-Kalag
Cebu City police have met city offices, the fire bureau and the traffic office to finish plans for All Saints' and All Souls' Day on 1 and 2 November: police help desks and patrols at cemeteries, rerouting and parking, ambulances and fire trucks. In Mandaue, each cemetery will get 10 to 12 disaster and barangay responders and at least four police. Visitors will be checked for weapons, alcohol and gambling items, and vendors will be kept off the roads.
If you are visiting family graves in Cebu City or Mandaue, leave alcohol and sharp items at home, expect bag checks at the gate, and plan for reroutes and limited parking near the big cemeteries. Carcar's own cemetery rules have not been announced yet.
Sources: SunStar, The Freeman
