MANILA, Philippines?Listless ?Pepeng,? now downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical depression, lingered off the eastern part of northern Luzon for the third straight day on Wednesday and threatened to make another pass over its provinces.

Director Prisco Nilo of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said he had never seen a storm act so erratically.

?In my 26 years in PAGASA, I?ve never seen a storm like this, staying over land for so long,? Nilo said.

Pepeng (international name: Parma) could move north in the next few days to follow Typhoon ?Quedan? (international name: Melor), which left the Philippines for Japan, or west across northern Luzon as it is pulled by a high-pressure area over Hong Kong, PAGASA said in an 11 p.m. bulletin.

Thursday evening, Pepeng is expected to be 130 km east-southeast of Tuguegarao City and by Friday evening, 210 km northeast of Tuguegarao.

Nilo said the storm could linger on land until Friday and possibly dissipate or move over the ocean and intensify. It was likely to move west, he said, ?according to the models we have seen.?

The storm remained stationary 90 kilometers east of Tuguegarao in Cagayan province, packing maximum winds of 55 km per hour near the center. But it brought more heavy rains, landslides and misery to already flooded areas of northern Luzon.

Canceled flights

At least three flights to Japan and two flights to Cagayan were canceled at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.

Philippine Air Lines? afternoon flights to Nagoya, Kansai and Narita were canceled at the NAIA Terminal 2, while Cebu Pacific flights to and from Tuguegarao were canceled at the NAIA Terminal 3.

Storm Signal No. 1 is up over Batanes, Cagayan, the Babuyan and Calayan islands, Ilocos Norte, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Isabela, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, northern Aurora and Benguet.

Rains would be concentrated over the whole of northern Luzon and parts of central Luzon, said Nathaniel Cruz, PAGASA deputy director for operations.

Pepeng slammed into northern Luzon on Saturday, causing flooding that inundated vast tracts of farmland and claimed 16 lives. Its strong winds and nonstop rains destroyed more than P200 million worth of crops.

The typhoon struck exactly a week after Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? (international name: Ketsana) unleashed massive floods in Metro Manila and surrounding areas, affecting over four million people and leaving at least 295 dead.

Many areas in Manila and the northern provinces remain flooded, forcing some survivors to wade in neck-deep waters to get much-needed relief goods and others to simply live in partly submerged homes.

San Roque Dam

In Pangasinan, the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town opened two of its six spillway gates after its water level continued to rise due to heavy rain dumped by Pepeng in the watershed of Ambuklao and Binga hydroelectric dams in Benguet.

Tom Valdez, vice president for corporate social responsibility of the San Roque multipurpose project, said one spillway gate was opened at one meter at midnight on Wednesday, followed 11 hours later by another, at one meter.

The dam catches excess water released by the Ambuklao and Binga dams, which are upstream of the Agno River in Benguet.

Gov. Deogracias Victor Savellano led the provincial government in distributing relief goods to residents in 272 villages in 32 towns that were submerged by floodwaters.

Relief teams used a helicopter to distribute goods to isolated villages in Dammay, Uribi and Calungbuyan, all in Santa town.

Roads to the upland towns of Sigay and Gregorio del Pilar were closed to traffic by the swollen Buaya River.

In Cervantes town, landslides blocked the roads, according to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).

The floods displaced 25,321 families, damaged 794 houses and destroyed 138 others, the PDCC said. Damage to rice and other crops reached P100 million, livestock, P12.5 million; and infrastructure, P100 million.

Affected towns

The water level at the San Roque Dam on Tuesday night was recorded at 285.65 meters above sea level (masl), way above its normal high of 280, said Alexander Palada, head of the flood forecasting and warning system for dam operation of National Power Corp.
At 6 a.m. Wednesday, the water level reached a record-high 286.7. The dam has a maximum water level of 290 meters.

Six spillway gates of the Ambuklao Dam were opened at 12 meters, discharging excess water at 576 cubic meters per second (cms), while five gates of the Binga Dam were opened at six meters with an outflow of 500 cms as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

With two spillway gates open, the dam was releasing excess water at 650 cms to the Agno River, Valdez said in a media advisory.

The weather bureau said the Pangasinan towns likely to be affected by the water releases were San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales and Bayambang.

Valdez said this was not the first time that the San Roque Dam released water. In August 2004, the dam opened two of its spillway gates at one-half meter each due to the rains dumped by Typhoon ?Marce.?

Classes at Juan C. Laya National High School in San Manuel were suspended on Wednesday due to rising floodwater.

Cagayan collision

In Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, an Australian and two Singaporeans, members of a United Nations team, were slightly hurt when their vehicle hit a parked dump truck as Pepeng again battered the region on Wednesday.

The three aid workers were treated for bruises at a clinic, police said.

At the provincial capitol, government experts told Gov. Alvaro Antonio that the mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre acted as a natural shield that had cushioned the province from the worst winds of Pepeng.

The province?s Office of Civil Defense (OCD), however, is monitoring the swollen Cagayan River because residents have started to retrieve wooden debris, including narra logs.

?A board foot of narra is worth P48 and it is a fortune to some people victimized by Pepeng,? an OCD official said.

Strong rains triggered landslides at Dalton Pass near the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya.

But Ernesto Marallag, regional spokesperson of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said road crews, soldiers and residents kept the major artery passable to motorists. ?Our heavy equipment and workforce are in the area to do the clearing operations,? he said.

Baguio rainfall

In Baguio City, the weather bureau said rainfall in the summer capital was far more than normal at this time of the year. On Tuesday, the city recorded 50.2 millimeters of rainfall, more than the recorded daily average of 17 mm.

The weather bureau recorded 641 mm of rainfall on Oct. 2-6, the period of Pepeng?s early onslaught. ?This is more than the 461 mm average monthly rainfall in October 2008, hence imminent flash flood and landslides may likely occur due to soil saturation,? the OCD report said.

Except for Ifugao, government suspended grade school and high school classes in Baguio, Mt. Province, Abra and Kalinga. Classes at all levels in Benguet remained suspended.

A low-pressure area was spotted 1,810 km east of the Visayas and could develop into a tropical cyclone but would not threaten the country, Nilo said.

The weather disturbance may follow the north-northeast path of Quedan and miss the country, he added. With reports from Leoncio Balbin Jr., Gabriel Cardinoza, Estanislao Caldez, Villamor Visaya Jr., Elmer Kristian Dauigoy and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Jerome Aning and Associated Press