PAGASA missed its forecast of typhoon Frank which passed Metro Manila an hour ago, despite earlier predictions that it will not hit Luzon. This in turn delayed the suspension of all sea travel hence the sinking of a Sulpicio Lines ship with 700 people on board ^[1].

While we understand that this oversight was caused by the agency’s possible lack of budget to buy better machines for predicting the weather or perhaps the outdated models that they use to predict typhoon direction, we fail to comprehend why the change in direction of the typhoon, which PAGASA can monitor, did not prompt anyone from the agency to contact the coastguard and thereby alert any ships on open water?

Blame game asides, we hope that they everyone on the ship will soon be rescued.

For the rest of us in relatively dry land, classes have been suspended tomorrow for Elementary and High School all over the Metro. College students will have to wait until 11pm tonight for the announcement. Those still experience power outages may call MERALCO’s hotline at 16211. Stay safe to all.