- Visayas grid slips from yellow to red alert for an hour on Tuesday
- Capitol forum works towards one set of smog rules for class suspensions
- Rosal stays far north of Cebu while thunderstorms are possible here today
- Auditors find ₱28 million in iPads sitting idle at Cebu Normal University
Visayas grid slips from yellow to red alert for an hour on Tuesday
NGCP put the Visayas grid on red alert from 5 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 October, with yellow alerts on either side, from 3 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Available capacity was 2,468 MW against an expected peak of 2,545 MW, so supply fell short of demand rather than just eating into reserves. About 685 MW was off the grid. The coal units PEDC 3 in Panay and KSPC 1 in Naga, Cebu, are still out, and imports from Mindanao are limited while four plants there are on planned maintenance. NGCP counts five Visayas plants on forced outage this month and 22 running below capacity.
CEBECO I, which serves most of Carcar, draws from this grid. A red alert is the stage where distribution utilities can be told to drop load, so the 5 to 8 p.m. window is when rotating interruptions are most likely if the alerts continue. Charge phones and lights before late afternoon and check CEBECO I's advisories.
Sources: GMA News, The Manila Times, The Freeman
Capitol forum works towards one set of smog rules for class suspensions
Governor Pamela Baricuatro brought mayors, doctors, DepEd, DENR-EMB, DOH and school groups to the Capitol on Tuesday, 20 October, to agree on when poor air should stop face-to-face classes. Part of the confusion so far is that DepEd memos use PM2.5 readings while DENR-EMB publishes the air quality index, so officials matched the two scales. Pediatric lung specialists said children need protective steps once the index nears 100. Mayors keep the final say on suspensions. A common position paper is due next week, which SunStar reports as Monday, 26 October.
Carcar was one of the 11 local governments that suspended face-to-face classes on 12 October when the haze turned very unhealthy. Once the guidelines are out, parents should expect suspensions here to follow the same reading and threshold as the rest of the province. Air monitors sit mostly in Metro Cebu, so readings for the south remain thin.
Sources: SunStar, The Freeman, The Manila Times
Rosal stays far north of Cebu while thunderstorms are possible here today
Super Typhoon Rosal entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility late on Tuesday morning, 20 October. By 4 p.m. it was 1,270 km east of Central Luzon with winds of 195 km/h. Pagasa expects it to head west-northwest until today, then curve northwest and north, pass closest to extreme northern Luzon on Thursday or Friday, and leave by early Saturday, 24 October, without making landfall. Wind signals are up only in northern Luzon and Catanduanes. Pagasa's 5 a.m. Visayas forecast today has partly cloudy to cloudy skies with showers or thunderstorms, 27 to 32°C, and a thunderstorm watch for Cebu.
Nothing in the track puts Carcar under a wind signal. Expect a hot day with a chance of afternoon or evening storms rather than typhoon weather, and keep an eye on Pagasa's bulletins until Rosal leaves on Saturday.
Sources: Pagasa (Visayas regional forecast), Philstar, GMA News
Auditors find ₱28 million in iPads sitting idle at Cebu Normal University
The Commission on Audit's 2025 report on Cebu Normal University says 1,000 iPads worth ₱28.25 million have sat in storage since they were delivered on 14 May 2025, because the ₱947.83-million student smart hub they were bought for was only 34.29% done by February 2026. Auditors also questioned a ₱262.75-million payment for a learning management system that was only partly delivered, and bids far above the approved budget for some components. CNU says prices included installation and freight and has agreed to COA's recommendations.
CNU is a state university in Cebu City that trains many of the province's public school teachers. Nothing has been disallowed yet; the findings now go back to the university to answer.
Sources: SunStar, The Freeman
