MORE NEWS, LA UNION

‘Lawin’ grounds GMA in La Union resort hotel
By Jerry Padilla

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – President Arroyo was forced to stay overnight Tuesday at the Thunderbird Resort Hotel in Poro Point here due to tropical depression “Lawin.” .

The President arrived around 1 a.m. four hours of travel by land from Laoag City where she presided over a meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council in connection with the damage left by typhoon “Karen.”

San Fernando City Vice Mayor Pancrasio Nisce, who represented Mayor Pablo Ortega who is on an official trip to the US said Ms Arroyo decided to stay overnight in La Union because of the bad weather caused by Lawin.

“She was supposed to travel by helicopter but the weather forbidded it so she decided to break her trip to Manila by taking a rest here in La Union,” Nisce said.

He said Ms Arroyo went to her room around 3 a.m. and resumed her trip to Manila after taking breakfast at 8:10 a.m. Wednesday.

One of the President’s concerns with regard to disaster, according to Nisce, was the conflicting and sometimes exaggerated reports on the actual number of affected persons and cost of damage.

“The President wants accurate reporting with regard to the number of affected persons and extent of damage, particularly on the part of NDCC and the Philippine National Red Cross,” he said.

Ms Arroyo was supposed to visit other typhoon-affected areas in Ilocos Norte on Wednesday but this was canceled due to bad weather.

Tropical depression Lawin, moving in a northwesterly direction, passed tip of Cagayan Wednesday night then to the South China Sea.

Robert Sawi, chief of the Pagasa weather forecasting section, said Lawin was earlier forecast to make landfall over Aurora but instead crossed coastal areas, Sawi said.

He said the ridge of high-pressure area located in Visayas and Mindanao prevented Lawin from intensifying but is expected to maintain its strength while it hovered over Cagayan.