Passengers flock to terminals, ports for New Year weekend

More passengers trooped to terminals and ports on Friday amid the long weekend in transition to the New Year.

In Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), corporate affairs officer Kolyn Calbasa said they are expecting 150,000 passengers to arrive at the terminal.

“Inaasahan natin na dadagsa today (We are expecting an influx of passengers today),” Calbasa told Dobol B TV.

As of 8 a.m., she said around 20,000 people had already arrived in the terminal to book a trip to Bicol.

Calbasa also said that some trips have already been fully booked including those for Cagayan de Oro, Daet in Camarines Norte, and Sorsogon.

In the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), senior traffic manager Robin Ignacio said there were slightly long lines observed at the cash lanes at toll plazas.

“Inaasahan po natin ulit mga noon time or early afternoon ay dadami po ulit ang ating mga kababayan na bibiyahe lalong-lalo na iyong pauwi ng probinsiya,” Ignacio said.

(We are expecting that many people will travel to the provinces around noon or early afternoon.)

Ignacio said they already increased the number of cash lanes from three to five to accommodate more motorists.

In Batangas Port, manager Joselito Sinocruz told Dobol B TV that an influx of passengers has been observed since December 26.

“Noong (December) 26 hanggang kahapon, talagang ang dami po talaga. Mula po noong 26 hanggang kahapon, nag-a-average tayo ng 16,000 (passengers) a day (Batangas Port),” he said.

(From December 26 to yesterday, there were really so many passengers. We are averaging around 16,000 daily.)

Passengers have to wait around five hours for their trips, according to Sinocruz.

He said some passengers heading to Caticlan and Romblon have to wait overnight at the port due to the lack of available seats.

For faster turnaround, Sinocruz said ships usually leave earlier than the scheduled time once they reach the full seat capacity.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the number of passengers arriving in the country has continued to increase since December 23.

“Ang projection po natin, mas mataas pa po ito hanggang katapusan po ng taon,” she said in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.

(Our projection is that the number of arrivals will further increase until the end of the year.)

Sandoval also said that around 161,000 arrivals were recorded from December 23 to 25. This number was already the monthly average during the pandemic period. –Joviland Rita/ VAL, GMA Integrated News