EDITORIAL - Safety beyond Holy Week

Government agencies are on alert to ensure a trouble-free Holy Week break. In partnership with some private companies and local government units, law enforcement and transportation personnel have been fielded along major roads and tourist destinations nationwide to enhance public safety.

Security is tight at seaports, airports and bus terminals. Motorist assistance centers have been set up along major roads while additional law enforcers have been deployed in popular tourist sites. The crime rate traditionally drops during Holy Week in this country. Perhaps Filipino crooks are also pious and take a break from criminal activities during holy days. But the measures implemented every Holy Week by the government surely help.

The positive effects of such measures should encourage the government to retain at least some of them beyond Lent in certain areas, especially during the peak travel months. After the hostage debacle in Rizal Park in 2010, the government announced that it would organize a special unit in the Philippine National Police to handle security problems of tourists. The Tourism Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection or TOP COP program stalled with the departure of Alberto Lim as tourism chief, but was later revived. The program should be sustained in areas frequented by travelers, and not just during Holy Week.

Measures currently being undertaken to enhance safety in all modes of mass transportation must also be sustained. This week security checks are supposed to be more stringent on ship passengers and cargo. Rigorous inspection of ships to prevent overloading and ensure seaworthiness and the accuracy of passenger manifests must be sustained especially during the typhoon season and peak travel months during school breaks.

In land transportation, safety measures must be implemented year-round. Too many buses and trucks have plunged off cliffs all over the country or rolled downhill to smash into crowded areas. Many of the vehicles are poorly maintained and prone to losing their brakes. In long trips, some drivers have also been found to be using shabu to stay awake.

All these problems should be addressed so that travel under any mode, anywhere in the country, will be safe throughout the year.