LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—About 160 passengers were stranded in the Bicol region as typhoon "Pepeng" intensified further, moving toward Northern Luzon, the Philippine Coast Guard said Thursday.

It said the stranded passengers were at the Tabaco City port.

There were also 16 trucks, four small cars, a passenger bus and two fishing vessels stranded in the ports of Tabaco City and Virac town in Catanduanes.

Meanwhile, the province of Albay was preparing itself for the possible evacuation of 884,041 Albayanos in the event Pepeng changes course and hits the province directly, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said in a press conference here Thursday morning.

"I am reminding all concerned disaster coordinating councils to implement response preparedness in their respective areas of responsibility and to prepare their constituents for the next typhoon (Pepeng)," he said.

Response preparedness, Salceda said, means prepositioning of response assets, stockpiling of food and nonfood items, identification of evacuation centers and the implementation of "preemptive evacuation."

He called on all municipal and barangay officials as well as private organizations to review, if necessary, their evacuation plans.

Salceda said the preemptive evacuation of Albay will only start if the typhoon’s winds hit a velocity of at least 120 kilometers per hour and if the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration says the province lies directly in the path of the typhoon.

"It is our strict policy to implement preemptive measures during calamities to ensure the safety of the people," the governor said.

"For this Pepeng, which has now maximum sustained winds of 175 kph and whose gustiness is 210 kph, that is more than enough to order a preemptive evacuation, however, the issue here is still whether it will hit Albay or not. So the two parameters are needed: the wind speed and the direction, or if Albay is already under signal No. 2, and that is the time for the evacuation," Salceda explained.

Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office director, said that the 24 rain gauges across the province have already been activated to monitor the rain density.

"What we are anticipating is the heavy rains brought by the typhoon because our focus would be in the high risk areas," Salceda said.

While the provincial disaster management team of Albay was in the thick of preparations for the approaching typhoon, the provincial government was able to send water and emergency paramedic teams to Metro Manila as part of its Ondoy Mission.

"We have already deployed our teams to help Ondoy's victims in major areas in Metro Manila," Salceda said.

Pagasa's 11 a.m. bulletin showed that Pepeng was 520 km east of Borongan, Eastern Samar, with coordinates of 12 degrees north, 130.7 degrees east. It was moving west-northwest at 24 kph.

Its forecast position by Friday morning was 220 km east of Virac, Catanduanes, according to Pagasa.

On Saturday morning, it will be 80 km east of Casiguran, Aurora or 160 km southeast of Tuguegarao City.

By Sunday morning, it would be 60 km northwest of Laoag City.

The provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes (all in Bicol) were now under signal No. 1, which meant those places were already experiencing winds of 30-60 kph.

People living in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes are advised to take precautionary measures against possible flash floods and landslides.