- Super typhoon Champi expected to enter PAR today and take the name Rosal
- Gasoline down ₱4.30 and diesel up ₱2.60 a litre from 6 a.m. today
- Provincial Board takes up the ₱14.6-billion 2027 budget on Monday
- Visayas grid on yellow alert for a fourth evening running
Super typhoon Champi expected to enter PAR today and take the name Rosal
Pagasa expects Super Typhoon Champi to cross into the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Tuesday morning or early afternoon, 20 October, where it gets the local name Rosal. At 3 a.m. today it was about 1,605 km east of Central Luzon, with winds of 195 km/h and gusts to 240 km/h. It is forecast to stay over the Philippine Sea and head towards Taiwan, with wind signals possible over northern Luzon and Bicol. For the Visayas, Pagasa expects gusty winds from Wednesday and moderate to rough seas on the eastern seaboard from Tuesday. Its trough is already bringing rain to Samar.
Carcar sits on the west coast of Cebu, far from the track, so the effects here are stronger gusts from Wednesday, 21 October, afternoon or evening thunderstorms, and rougher water for small boats. Tie down loose roofing and follow Pagasa's bulletins, since the storm is still strengthening and its track can shift.
Sources: Pagasa (daily weather forecast), Philstar, The Manila Times
Gasoline down ₱4.30 and diesel up ₱2.60 a litre from 6 a.m. today
Oil companies cut gasoline by ₱4.30 a litre and kerosene by ₱1, and raised diesel by ₱2.60, from 6 a.m. on Tuesday, 20 October. Petron, Shell and Seaoil announced the same three figures, and Unioil matched the gasoline and diesel moves. The amounts are the ceilings the Department of Energy allowed for the week. The week before, gasoline went up ₱1.56 and kerosene ₱1.77 while diesel fell ₱3.01, so diesel has given back most of last week's cut.
Diesel runs most of the jeepneys, buses and delivery trucks on the Carcar to Cebu City route, so the ₱2.60 rise is the one that feeds into fares and freight. Motorcycle and car owners on gasoline get the break. Stations in Carcar usually move with the national adjustment on the same morning.
Sources: GMA News, The Manila Times
Provincial Board takes up the ₱14.6-billion 2027 budget on Monday
The Capitol's proposed ₱14.6-billion budget for 2027 arrived too late for the Provincial Board's agenda on Monday, 19 October, so the board will take it up at its next session on Monday, 26 October, and refer it to the committee on budget and appropriations. Department heads will then be called to committee hearings to defend their requests. Vice Governor Glenn Soco wants an accounting of how this year's health allocation, close to ₱4 billion, was spent before approving more: health takes ₱5.865 billion, or 40%, of the 2027 proposal, which is 22.7% above the 2026 budget of ₱11.9 billion.
The health share funds the Capitol-run hospitals, including the provincial hospital in Carcar, so these hearings are where any Carcar hospital spending gets argued over. Nothing is final until the board passes the appropriation ordinance.
Sources: The Freeman, SunStar
Visayas grid on yellow alert for a fourth evening running
NGCP placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert from 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, 19 October, after alerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Available capacity was about 2,524 MW against an expected peak of 2,449 MW, below the reserve the grid is required to keep. The coal units PEDC 3 in Panay and KSPC 1 in Naga, Cebu, are still on forced outage, and imports from Mindanao are limited while GNPower Kauswagan 4 and a Therma South unit are on planned maintenance. NGCP counts eight Visayas plants on forced outage this October and 18 running below capacity.
CEBECO I, which serves most of Carcar, draws from this grid. A yellow alert is a warning, not a brownout, but the alerts have now run four evenings straight, so keep lights and phones charged for the 5 to 8 p.m. stretch and watch CEBECO I's advisories for rotating interruptions if NGCP escalates to red.
Sources: The Daily Chronicle, RMN
