ILOILO City – The southwest monsoon (habagat) enhanced by Typhoon Inday crippled normal operations across Western Visayas on Friday, disrupting education, government work, and sea travel while affecting 414,072 learners, 3,723 residents, and hundreds of stranded passengers, according to regional disaster and education authorities.
Based on the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) situational report as of 10 a.m., July 10, a total of 1,378 families or 3,723 persons were affected by the weather disturbance. Of these, 63 families or 229 individuals were accommodated in six evacuation centers, while eight families or 34 persons received assistance outside evacuation centers.
The affected population included 77 families comprising 82 persons in Aklan and 1,301 families or 3,641 persons in Antique.
Authorities also reported 87 stranded passengers, 60 stranded cargoes in Aklan, and one stranded cargo in Iloilo.
The bad weather likewise damaged six houses, including five totally destroyed and one partially damaged.
According to the Department of Education (DepEd), as of Friday morning 1,289 schools with 414,072 learners in 50 municipalities suspended face-to-face classes.
The breakdown showed: Aklan – 298 schools, 88,933 learners; Antique – 538 schools, 144,909 learners; Capiz – 216 schools, 61,677 learners; Guimaras – 33 schools, 16,253 learners; Iloilo Province – 139 schools, 29,173 learners; and Iloilo City – 65 schools, 73,127 learners.
No class suspensions were reported in Passi City and Roxas City.
In Antique, Gov. Paolo Everardo Javier issued Memorandum Order No. 212, Series of 2026, suspending classes at all levels and work in provincial, municipal, and national government offices throughout the province.
But the order exempted agencies providing essential services – Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Provincial Health Office (skeleton workforce), and hospitals, Provincial Government Services Office, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, and Provincial Engineering Office.
Private companies and other institutions were also encouraged to suspend work in the interest of public safety.
Iloilo City, several municipalities in Iloilo Province, parts of Capiz, and the entire province of Guimaras also suspended face-to-face classes due to the persistent heavy rains.
“This measure is implemented to ensure the safety and welfare of all learners, teaching and non-teaching personnel, and the general public,” the Guimaras provincial government stated in a statement.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Iloilo and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) also cancelled several sea trips, including routes between Iloilo and Bacolod, Iloilo and Guimaras, Caticlan and Batangas, Caticlan and Mindoro, Culasi and Masbate, and other major inter-island routes as authorities warned mariners to exercise extreme caution amid rough sea conditions.
Captain Jan Terazona, acting commander of PCG-Iloilo specifically mentioned the Montenegro Lines route from Iloilo Fastcraft Terminal to BREDCO Port in Bacolod City and its route from Lapuz wharf to Jordan, Guimaras.
But other vessels permitted to sail were advised to exercise extreme caution and maintain heightened vigilance.
The Port Management Office (PMO) of the PPA, on the other hand, cancelled the following specific trips for Panay and Guimaras from these ports of origin:
* All trips from Port of Alegria to Roxas, Oriental Mindoro (Starlite Ferries and Marina Ferries Inc.)
* From Port of Caticlan to Batangas (Starlite Ferries, Lite Ferries)
* From Port of Caticlan to Port of Dangay, Mindoro (Starlite Ferries, Montenegro Shipping Inc., Orange Navigation)
* From Port of Caticlan to Batangas via Romblon (2GO Group Inc.)
* From Port of Caticlan to Port of Bulalacao, Mindoro (Archipelago)
* From Port of Culasi to Masbate MBCA Gezel Kelvin Shipping Lines (MB Gezel/Kelvin)
* From Port of Culasi to Batangas (Starlite Ferries Inc.)
* Port of Culasi – Port of Culasi to Batangas via Romblon and Sibuyan Island (Starlite Ferries, Inc.)
* From Iloilo Fastcraft Terminal to Bacolod (Montenegro Lines)/PN
