An estimated total of 6,000 persons have gone through the North Bus Terminal from Friday until the morning of Saturday, October 28, as they head home to their provinces for the long weekend. | Emmariel Ares
CEBU CITY. Philippines — An estimated 6,000 individuals have went to the Cebu North Bus Terminal since Friday, October 27 until Saturday morning, October 28, to head home to their respective provinces for the long weekend.
Two days before the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections on Monday, October 30, several people have began to fill up the buses in the Cebu North Bus Terminal located beside a shopping mall in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
READ: Cebu South Bus Terminal expects 50,000 passengers on long weekend
Low number of passengers
Ariel Salumag, supervisor of a bus company at the Cebu North Bus Terminal, said that an estimated 5,000 passengers came to the terminal on Friday while a 1,000 persons were seen at the terminal on early Saturday morning.
Salumag said that this number was low compared to the number of passengers they would usually cater to during holidays but he expected that this number would increase during the rest of the weekend.
He said that they would expect that an influx of passengers would come on Saturday afternoon until early Sunday morning.
READ: Bus drivers, terminal operators ready for surge of passengers during long weekend
Gearing up for passengers on Sunday dawn
According to Salumag, they are preparing to cater to a higher number of passengers who will come at dawn as many individuals try to avoid traffic and the heat during daytime.
“Karon gyud ning hapon hangtod gabii nya hangtod ugma sa buntag,” he said.
(This would be this afternoon until evening and until tomorrow morning.)
Salumag said that their more than 200 buses were all completely functional and ready to serve the passengers who would head home to vote in the elections and spend time with their family to honor their lost loved ones during the observation of Kalag-Kalag this year.
READ: Bus operators reminded of vehicles’ ‘roadworthiness’ for Kalag-Kalag 2023
Delay in bus arrivals
He also said that there had been minor delays due to traffic which was unavoidable during long trips especially when the number of passengers going back to the city would be few.
“Expected gyud na naa gyuy delay sa mga truck nga arrival gumikan sa kusog ang atoang dispatching padung didto nya ang pagbalik medio hinay kay liwas na man ang pasahero pagbalik,” he said.
(It is expected that there would be a delay in the truck arrival because of the strong dispatching heading there and in heading back it will only be slow because it was expected that the passengers heading back would still be after the long weekend.)
Nonetheless, he said that they were capable of handling the expected rise in the number of passengers and that their operations would be open 24/7 just like during normal days.
READ: Metro Cebu weather: Passing rains during early morning and afternoon in next 5 days
Passengers going home
He added that they would have trips going to the northern part of Cebu such as: Daabantayan, Bantayan Island, Labaga, Tacloban, Leyte, San Isidro, Bacolod, and Hagnaya.
While waiting for the arrival of their buses, some individuals can make themselves comfortable on the seats prepared in front of the terminal.
One of these individuals is Jojo Pamugas, 46, who works as a bus driver in Batangas and is traveling back to his family in his hometown in Leyte for the weekend.
Pamugas said that he chose to take the bus after he learned that the boat trips at the Pier 3 were full until Wednesday, October 31.
He said that he was determined to go home so that he could exercise his right to vote on Monday and spend time with his wife and kids during the Kalag-Kalag.
READ: 774 na bus nabigyan ng special permit para sa Undas at BSKE
Going home to Malapascua
Meanwhile, 50-year-old Lira Nuñez is traveling with her sister and daughter back to their home in Malapascua island for the weekend.
Nuñez said that they purposefully came to the terminal early in the morning to secure their seats inside the bus in case the number of passengers would increase in the afternoon.
As more passengers start to arrive at the terminal to travel to their provinces, the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) has also deployed police personnel in the area to ensure that the peace and order is maintained in the area 24/7.
A part of their Ligtas Undas campaign, two police assistance desks have been established inside the terminal where individuals can easily ask for help from police officers in case of emergency.
READ: Cebu City Police Office to deploy 800 personnel for Kalag-Kalag 2023
Police Help Desks
The assigned policemen are also working with the management of the North Bus Terminal to implement bag checks at the entrance in order to make sure that no firearms or other potential dangerous weapons like knives and bolos will be brought inside the terminal.
Police Lieutenant Christian Bongay, supervisor of the police personnel assigned at the area, said that these items would be confiscated for the safety of everyone.
He also reminded individuals who would be going to the terminal to behave appropriately and to avoid bringing prohibited items like knives and other sharp objects.