Road trip discoveries

For the longest time my wife Karen and I have been meaning to do a road trip that starts from Pasig, goes south to Batangas, cross over to Mindoro, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros, Cebu, Ormoc, Leyte, Samar, Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines, Quezon and wrap up back in Lipa, Batangas. But as they say, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” but with Filipinos, the spur of the moment ideas are usually the ones that take off. So with half a plan to go as far as Bacolod City, we scurried about arranging for a van that would fit 10 and sought the assistance and assurance of contacts from the ferry company FastCat which has some of the newest and modern inter-island ferry ships in the Philippines. To see is to believe and I definitely was impressed with the professionalism and service that the FastCat officials and crew extended to us. They did everything they said they would do and they did it on time. So if you ever read or hear their slogan – Ferry Safe - Ferry Fast - Ferry Convenient, Yes they are.

Because we were traveling at the very peak of the Christmas exodus to the islands we were mentally aware and prepared for delays and challenges, but by God’s grace everything went as planned except for the disruptions caused by Typhoon Ursula that nearly caught up with us midway of our trip.

What we did observe from the onset is that the officials of the Philippine Ports Authority or PPA need to invest serious money for signages at their various ports. Unless you are an experienced traveler, you will find yourself blindly following vehicles or people, assuming it’s where you are suppose to be or headed to.

At the Batangas City Port, there were already long lines of trucks on the right outer lane, private vehicles on the middle lane, and the left lane being used by vehicles passing through. Every now and then a truck would get out of their lane and cross over and cause some confusion. Given the long distance before you reach the actual gates of the port, it would be practical and convenient to put up overhead directional and instructional signs so travelers and drivers would know what to prepare, what lane to be on etc.

To be fair, there seemed to be some method to the madness, but if the PPA wants to improve things please put up the signs. For instance, we used up too much time at the PPA toll booth because there were no advance information about toll fees. Given that people were in the line for at least one to two hours they could have prepared their payments as well as vehicle documents. After the toll booth, we were signaled to line up for vehicle inspection. My first observation was that the inspection area barely provided shelter for the security personnel some of whom were inspecting vehicles manually under the sun.

Unlike the airport where you all fall in a line, the PPA had parking slots and the maneuvering in and out added to delays and inefficiency. An eyebrow raiser was the absence of K-9 dogs. Sorry but that is the sort of thing that the Coast Guard is suppose to be building up and it is something the PPA should buy into or spend money on. It is humanly impossible to visually check for concealed weapons, bombs and drugs. That’s what K-9 dogs are for.

In some ports, announcements about the Christmas schedules were printed on bond paper! Our ports are major government facilities that should have LED information systems or at the very least big plastic boards that you can read 50 meters away so people don’t end up crowding around those tiny bond paper notices!

At the Batangas pier I saw a long line of last minute ticket buyers lining up outside the passenger terminal. I found it ironic that everything in the port was clean and presentable but the ticket buyers were standing in an open area. If the PPA can put up an air conditioned terminal can’t they spend just a little more to fix up the ticket selling area? Foreigners pointed out that the authorities should encourage or require shipping companies to sell tickets online and monitor if the companies are regularly updating schedules etc.

Outside of these few badly needed improvements, I have to compliment port authorities because the ports we went through – Batangas City, Calapan, Mindoro, and Bulalacao, Mindoro – were clean, secure and orderly. The security guards were strict and diligent and never were we approached or harassed by hawkers or baggage carriers or kargadors. As we drove through various provinces, the ladies in the group all commented how the “clean toilet campaign” of the gasoline stations seemed to have gone off track. I personally observed that many toilets belonging to the top two oil companies were no longer spic and span, or well lit. May we suggest to Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat to meet up with the major oil companies to revive the “Clean Toilet Campaign” in 2020.

Last but not the least, The DOT, DOTR and Malacanang should do a serious evaluation of the town of Caticlan in order to complete their work in the area.

Yes, Boracay has vastly improved but it seems that government officials overlooked and dropped the ball on Caticlan. The town needs a serious overhaul in terms of traffic re-routing and management, zoning, as well as rehabilitation and development before it turns into a copy of Chinatown. Secure parking areas have to be developed with shuttle service. Tricycles or habal habal have to have their own area and not crowd outside the port or visitors reception. The place needs serious work and not just Boracay. Hopefully, these things can be addressed in 2020 because Caticlan is the gateway to Boracay!

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