Passengers heading south of Cebu arrive at the Cebu South Bus Terminal in this 2018 photo. CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Those who plan to go home to their hometowns in southern Cebu next Saturday, January 19, will have to be at the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) before 8 p.m.
Or they will have to take the first bus trip home at 6 a.m. the next day at a lot at the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) at the South Road Properties (SRP), which will serve as the temporary terminal for buses to the south for the duration of the Sinulog activities.
Jonathan Tumulak, CSBT operations manager, gave this advice to bus passengers as the bus terminal would be closed starting 8 p.m. on Saturday until the Sinulog activities would end on Sunday, January 20, or at least around 8 p.m. that day.
Tumulak told Cebu Daily News Digital in an interview on Wednesday, January 9, that at 8 p.m. next Saturday they would no longer accommodate passengers in the terminal.
“Magsugod ang pagsirado inig January 19 sa gabii until Sunday. Sa Saturday, between 8 to 10 p.m., magsirado na mi so that by 12 midnight ining January 20, wa na gyoy buses nga mosulod og mogawas sa terminal,” said Tumulak.
He said that at the start of the terminal closure only those passengers inside the terminal would be allowed to take the buses home to the south.
The bus terminal will have to be closed on those dates because the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) will be closing a portion of N. Bacalso Avenue leading to the terminal starting midnight on Sunday, preventing the buses to reach the terminal. The road closure is due to the Sinulog activities.
Temporary terminal
El Pardo Road, across Il Corso at the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR), will serve as the temporary terminal of the buses while the CSBT is closed.
Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) Regional Director Eduardo Montealto Jr., in a separate phone interview, told CDN Digital that he would be meeting with officials of the CSBT and the CCTO on Friday, January 11, to discuss how to ferry passengers from the CSCR to and from downtown Cebu City.
Tumulak said they would be asking the LTFRB to issue a temporary permit for a number of jeepneys that would accommodate the passengers from Compaña Maritima near Cebu City Hall going to El Pardo.
The closure of CSBT will last until around 8 p.m. on Sunday or until the end of the Sinulog activities.
Tumulak said they would have to wait for the CCTO to give them the clearance to let the buses into the terminal.
Meanwhile, Julito Flores, president of Cebu Provincial Bus and Mini Bus Operators Transport Cooperative (CPBMTC), said buses would only start to accommodate passengers at their temporary terminal in the CSCR around 6 a.m. on January 20, and until they would be allowed to go back to the south bus terminal in the late afternoon or in the evening.
Flores cited safety as the reason for their decision to start accommodating passengers at 6 a.m. at the temporary terminal.
“Dili mi mobiyahe from SRP og kaadlawon kay dili safe sa mga pasahero nga manaog ug mosakay didto tungod kay ngitngit ang lugar,” Flores said.
The CPBMTC has 50 bus line members./dbs