BORACAY ISLAND — About 5,000 people left this island during its first day of closure on Thursday, said Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Caticlan Station Commander Lt. Ramil Palabrica on Friday.
Due to the unexpected big number of passengers leaving the island, it took some time for the buses traveling from the Caticlan port to other provinces in Western Visayas to transport all the passengers, a personnel from the bus company servicing the route told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview.
The personnel, who requested that he and the bus company will not be named, said they have 40 buses coming from Caticlan going to different destinations. Due to the rush of passengers, there was some waiting time before they could board a bus. “But at the end of the day, everyone was served,” said the bus company personnel.
“It is like an exodus,” said Palabrica in describing the influx of people to the port.
Even on Friday morning, the bus terminal is still full of passengers, he said in an interview.
With boat trips, Palabrica said no passenger got stranded.
However, he noted there were several passengers who waited until Friday morning to leave the island as they were unable to catch the 10 p.m. last boat ride on Thursday.
Boat operators are only allowed to travel from 6 a.m until 10 p.m. daily and are only allowed to travel via Cagban Port to Caticlan Jetty Port and back due to the “one entry, one exit” policy.
Palabrica said there was a 60 percent drop in operations of passenger boats due to the closure of all 16 entry points into the island. However, he did not have the exact number of boats still operating.
Tourists are already barred from entering the island since Thursday, the first day of Boracay closure but Palabrica said there were local tourists who attempted to enter the island via the Caticlan Jetty Port.
“But they were immediately blocked while they were at the port and were told about our policy that only residents of Boracay are allowed to enter the island,” he said.
The ID system being implemented to ensure that only residents will be allowed to enter the island has yet to encounter any problem, Palabrica said.
The assistance desks of the different government agencies participating in the rehabilitation are still present at the Caticlan port.
Palabrica said the Coast Guard is also helping to make sure that no vessel will be able to pass through the 16 entry points around the island that were shutdown.
Nearly 100 coast guard personnel are deployed here, he said. There are also two patrol boats, two bigger boats for search and rescue operations, and three aluminum boats aside from the four patrol vessels deployed by the Philippine Navy here. (PNA)
