More tents were installed along Legaspi Extension in Cebu City this Tuesday morning to provide shelter to Local Stranded Individuals (LSIs) who wanted to purchase their boat tickets. | Photo courtesy of Joel Garganera
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) who plan to visit ticketing outlets that are located near pier 1 in Cebu City to purchase boat tickets will now have a comfortable place to stay.
This after the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) decided to set up three more tents in addition to the two tents which were earlier installed along Legaspi Extension for their shelter.
EOC also added dozens of monobloc chairs for their use.
Providing them with a comfortable place to stay is a means to ensure the observance of social distancing while they wait for their turns to be called, said Councilor Joel Garganera, the EOC’s czar.
As a procedure, LSIs especially those who are traveling to Negros Oriental are advised to visit the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) office for a review of their travel documents before they should proceed to purchase their boat tickets.
After the purchase, LSIs will have to go back to the PCG office that is located about 300 meters away, along the nearby Arellano Street, to have their boat tickets stamped.
On Monday, Garganera said a large crowd of travelers visited the ticketing offices located along Legaspi Extension near the entrance and exit gates of pier 1 in Cebu City.
They have observed that social distancing protocols were no longer observe especially since people were on a rush to purchase their tickets so they can also proceed to the PCG office.
“Grabe kaayo ang dagsa sa mga taga Negros dinhi. Nag-uwan, walay igo nga tent ato nga time,” Garganera said.
(We saw the convergence of a huge crowd in the area, most of whom were people who wanted to go home to Negros. It was raining and there were not enough tents then.)
As an added security measure, Police Captain Miles Damaslog, the chief of the Waterfront Police Station, said that they have also installed additional barricades to cordon the area that is occupied by the LSIs. / dcb