BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Fast craft vessels plying the Bacolod-Iloilo route set sail for the first time in more than two months after authorities imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Panay News went to the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (Bredco) port over the weekend and observed that passengers have been fully cooperative with port authorities.
Prior to entering the terminal, passengers queue in line as they wait in turn for a temperature check. An isolation room is readily available just in case a passenger registers a high temperature.
Once inside the terminal passengers are required to present their identification when purchasing a ticket and go through the normal security checks.
Seats in the waiting area are clearly marked in order for passengers to follow social distancing measures, after which another round of temperature check will be performed prior to boarding their vessel.
For arriving passengers, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel immediately retrieve the health cards issued to passengers prior to disembarkation.
PCG personnel then divide the passengers between Bacolod City residents, and those living outside of the city.
Bacolod City residents only need to submit their health cards and after which they are allowed to go on their way.
Negros Occidental residents, meanwhile, undergo testing through real time-polymerase reaction at a swab booth set up outside the terminal’s premises.
At the roll-on/roll-off terminal, meanwhile, PCG again divides the passengers, only this time Negros Occidental residents are directed to ride a waiting bus which will take them to the Provincial Healing Center in the town of E.B. Magalona for testing./PN
Ferry operators are also stringent in enforcing minimum health protocols. They only accommodate 50 percent of the vessel’s total seating capacity and are also seen disinfecting the passenger accommodation areas.
Last week, Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Mayor Jerry Treñas agreed to resume travel between the two cities./PN
