Coast Guard issues travel tips for Holy Week travelers
With the exodus Holy Week now peaking, passengers going by sea should be at the piers at least one-and-a-half hours before their scheduled trip.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) asked passengers to understand the 30-minute delay from the usual one-hour requirement, saying it is to ensure their safety from crime and from overloading.
"We hope passengers will understand this requirement. Whereas before, the leeway was one hour, please be at the terminal 30 more minutes ahead of schedule. Leave the house early so you can catch your trip," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said.
Balilo said there will be stricter inspections of baggage by Coast Guard personnel and by K-9 bomb- and drug-sniffing units.
Authorities will also be on the lookout for bladed weapons, noxious substances, flammable materials, and firearms, as well as drugs, he said.
"We also want to prevent innocent passengers from being unwitting couriers of drugs and contraband. Hopefully our inspections will ferret out such items from baggage," he said.
But Balilo admitted that overloading will remain the authorities' biggest problem during the peak season, saying there are not enough personnel to guard the country's coastlines.
He said that this is not a problem with the bigger shipping firms, which have put their foot down against overloading by setting up appropriate counterchecking measures.
According to him, what bugs the Coast Guard is that inter-island ferries continue to operate especially in areas where government has little naval presence
"They operate small fishing boats and use them as inter-island ferries. In effect, the fishing boats become colorum passenger ships. With our big coastline, it is inevitable that we cannot cover all the stops," he said.
But he said the Coast Guard will still make sure in the areas where it has personnel that vessels will be inspected to see if they have safety equipment like life jackets and radio equipment.
Meanwhile, Balilo appealed to passengers to refuse to ride such vessels, and to report operators who allow overloading of their vessels.
"We are hoping our passengers will be more disciplined this time. It may not be raining hard now, but we cannot take chances," he said.
He said passengers who witness overloading can call the Coast Guard headquarters in Manila at 5272724. (PNA)