THE sea trips between Bacolod City and Iloilo remained normal throughout the day, Tuesday, March 30, as the observance of the Holy Week began this week.
Based on records released by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Negros Occidental, as of 3 p.m. of March 30, they have only recorded 522 outbound passengers, while inbound passengers stand at 241 for both the Bredco and Banago ports.
The PCG station also reported that seven roll-on/roll-off and six fast craft vessels were available.
The PCG in the province also noted that they expect the number of passengers to increase by Wednesday afternoon, March 31, as most of the businesses and offices finish their work week prior to the Holy Thursday holiday.
Vessels leaving the Bredco port are also strictly being checked by PCG personnel prior to leaving port, making sure that the ships are in good sailing condition and the passengers are following proper health protocols.
As of Tuesday, the PCG said only ferry operator FastCat had announced that it will suspend trips on April 2 in observance of Good Friday and will return to normal operations on April 3, Black Saturday.
The PCG national headquarters had earlier placed its entire districts, stations, and sub-stations on “heightened alert” to manage the influx of port passengers during the Lenten season this week.