Feria spoils celebration of 'San Juan'
Only few people went to the beaches yesterday to celebrate St. John the Baptist Day or “San Juan” because of the bad weather brought by typhoon Feria.
The beach line in Arevalo district in Iloilo City which is always full of people during “San Juan” was empty of people swimming because of strong waves and a cold weather.
There were also no customers for beach resorts in various coastal municipalities of Iloilo province as the people preferred to stay at home since Iloilo was placed under storm signal number 1 and 2.
In previous years the celebration of San Juan in Iloilo City and province is not without incidence of drowning, but yesterday no report of drowning emerged on the duration of the celebration.
It was learned that several barangays and towns celebrated their fiesta yesterday in honor of St. John the Baptist.
In Bacolod City only few Negrenses and Catholic faithfuls celebrated the feast of St. John the Baptist in various beaches, resorts and even rivers.
Reports from Patrol 117 of Bacolod City revealed that not all resorts’ cottages from barangays Punta Taytay and Pahanocoy, have been filled-up because of strong winds in the shorelines and storm surges.
Some reservations were eventually canceled because of bad weather.
Bacolod City Vice-Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said that in Brgy. Banago yesterday afternoon the water overflowed to the breakwater, fortunately there were no reports of flooding.
Provincial Disaster Management Program (PDMP) reported that there was a missing person in Silay City due to strong current of Malisbog River. They identified the victim as Marvin Mar Casote, 45 years old.
Negros Occidental Provincial Office on the other hand declared full alert status in maintaining peace and order and providing police visibility.
Negros Occidental PNP provincial director Police Senior Superintendent Manuel Felix directed all the 31 chiefs of police in the province and the four provincial mobile group directors to be on the guard against possible atrocities by the New People's Army and other unscrupulous individuals who would like to take advantage of the situation.
The PNP provincial office declared the activity as generally peaceful because there were no untoward incidents in relation to celebration of ‘San Juan’.
"OPLAN San Juan 2009" provides for the Philippine National Police to increase police visibility in beaches and resorts, conduct intensified traffic management, provide baywatch patrol and organize search and rescue teams on standby if the need arises.