Queue for Matnog port reaches 4 km

As thousands try to cross stormy seas from the Matnog port in Sorsogon to reach homes in Samar to celebrate Christmas with loved ones, residents of Legazpi City watch the waters off the city shore turn turbulent as Typhoon “Nina” drew closer. —MARC ALVIC ESPLANA

LEGAZPI CITY—The queue of vehicles outside the port of Matnog in Sorsogon has reached four kilometers long on Saturday after the Philippine Coast Guard in Bicol suspended sea travel as the region braced for the impact of Supertyphoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-ten) on Christmas Day.

At least 284 trucks, 21 buses and 101 private vehicles were stuck on a four-kilometer stretch of the road leading to the port after the Coast Guard started enforcing the no-travel order.

The queue started to form as early as Friday, when passengers trying to beat the Christmas rush flocked to the port to take roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels headed for the Samar provinces.

Motorists using the road where the vehicles are stuck had other lanes to use.

More trucks and buses had been given one lane of a road in Irosin town, adjacent to Matnog, to prevent the entrance to the port from further clogging up.

The municipal government of Matnog had distributed food to stranded passengers as the Coast Guard kept them updated about the weather.

The Diocese of Sorsogon, through its head Bishop Arturo Bastes, had announced no change in the schedule for midnight Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul although he allowed other parishes to adjust their Mass schedules.

In the province of Albay, parishes have changed their Mass schedules, moving these earlier to heed advice by the Diocese of Legazpi through its head Bishop Joel Z. Baylon.

But Bastes said Mass in celebration of Christ’s birthday should be ideally held at midnight “so everyone is awake” because midnight is the time that Jesus’ second coming could occur, according to the Bible.

According to Fr. Philippine Andrew B. Gallanosa, of the Diocese of Sorsogon, some parishes celebrated midnight Mass as early as 6 p.m.