MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday reported that operations at the Calapan Port in Oriental Mindoro have finally normalized and the more than 50,000 passengers and vehicles, too, stranded there have already left for Batangas in the past four days.
PCG Calapan station commander Lt. Senior Grade Algier Ricafrente said 50,439 passengers and about 1,741 vehicles have been ferried from the Calapan Port to Batangas City in the past four days.
“The operations here have normalized as of 9 a.m. today (yesterday) and there are just about 1,000 people waiting at the port but they could easily be accommodated by the vessels traveling from Calapan to Batangas. There were also eight buses, 15 private vehicles and 20 trucks,” he said.
Ricafrente said the influx of passengers started to peak last Saturday night and that it was only at noontime yesterday when the volume of people and vehicles became manageable.