The Philippine Coast Guard in Central Visayas conducts a dry run for the 2020 fluvial procession at the Mactan Channel. | CDN Digital photo | Gerard Vincent Francisco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) will be sending out a water search and rescue (Wasar) team to the Sinulog fluvial procession this Saturday, January 18.
PDRRMO Chief Neil Angelo Sanchez, in an interview with CDN Digital, said he committed to the Philippine Coast Guard District Central Visayas (PCG-7) to deploy the Wasar team in case some vessels would lack one.
On Tuesday, January 14, Sanchez said they had a final coordination meeting with PCG-7 for the fluvial procession.
“Naay one team nga akong gi- standby kung kinahanglan pa ang uban nila (PCG-7) nga mga small crafts. Naa tay team nga gi-dedicate nato ana,” Sanchez said.
(We have one team that is on standby if they will need it for some of the small crafts. We have a team dedicated for that.)
Read more: PDRRMO starts full deployment for Sinulog on Jan. 17
During the fluvial procession, the PCG-7 will be deploying the BRP Capones, which will serve as the lead vessel, at least two speedboats to serve as the close-in security of the galleon, which will carry the image of the Señor Santo Niño, and at least eight other small vessels.
As of the deadline of the registration on January 14, a total of 146 seacrafts have registered with the PCG-7 that will participate in the fluvial procession.
These include 33 ship size vessels (above 15 gross tons[GT]), 96 passenger type motor bancas (3 to 15 GT) and 17 small type motor bancas (below 3 GT)
Commander Rodolfo Dela Peña, chief of the Task Unit Maritime Security and the in-charge of the vessel registration, has not announced any further extension to the registration period.