Police and other law enforcement agencies have intensified the security measures in all transportation hubs across the country for the Christmas exodus, especially in seaports where at least 4.6 million passengers are expected to converge during the entire Holiday season.

Lawyer Jay Daniel Santiago, general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), said the expected passengers for the Christmas season this year is higher compared to last year with 4.4 million recorded passengers from the same period of Dec. 15 to Jan. 5.

“For this year, we are expecting 4.6 million passengers. We are expecting an increase of 250,000 to 300,000 additional passengers compared to last year,” said Santiago who is scheduled to inspect the Batangas Port, one of the country's busiest ports, on Monday, Dec. 22. 

With the expected huge volume of passengers, Santiago said he already instructed all Port Management Offices across the country to cancel all the leaves of absence of all personnel in PPA-managed and supervised ports across the country, especially those involved in operation and other frontline services.

At least 3,000 port police personnel and augmentation forces that include personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard, the Maritime Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-MG) and security guards, were also placed on heightened alert for the entire duration of Holiday season to ensure passenger safety.

“We are in full manpower complement from December 15 to January 5, including Coast Guard and Maritime Group, in all PPA-controlled and managed ports all over the Philippines. And as an additional measure which we have been doing in the past, all leaves will not be allowed for our people who perform frontline services,” said Santiago.

“We are very confident because all our personnel already know what to do, including the standard operating procedures in any untoward incident,” he added.

For instance, he said food packs, sufficient drinking water and medical-related matters are on standby for emergency purposes.

Santiago said they already asked the shipping lines to ensure a sufficient number of ships to meet the demand of huge passenger volume during the Christmas season.

Aside from the influx of passengers, Santiago said they are also conducting real-time monitoring of the situation in the ports for cargo handling.

But unlike before, he said they are confident of zero congestion on cargoes due to the significant improvements in operations, especially in two major ports in Metro Manila.

For one, he said the huge volume of cargo already arrived in the country in October and November and were already released in ports.

Intensified security

Aside from ports, police forces have started focusing their deployment to other transportation hubs that include bus terminals and airports as millions of Filipinos begin their travel to their home provinces for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Acting PNP chief Lt Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, Jr. said local police units have been instructed to carefully plan and adjust the deployment of personnel in major transport hubs to ensure the safety and orderly movement of passengers during the expected surge of travelers.

“Our security measures are in place and part of them is the regular adjustments based on the situation on the ground. As expected, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people in the terminals and the roads leading to transportation hubs, and we have been directing our personnel and resources in these areas to ensure public safety,” said Nartatez.

“I have already directed our local police units to strategize the deployment of personnel in ports and terminals to increase police presence in these public areas,” he added.

More than 100,000 police personnel will be deployed nationwide to secure the Christmas and New Year period, higher than last year’s deployment of 60,000, to ensure adequate coverage of transport terminals, major roads, and other crowded areas.

Mission: Safe, comfortable travel

The main goal is to ensure safe and comfortable travel for millions of Filipinos, and Santiago said such an objective is a shared responsibility by government agencies concerned and the public as well.

On the part of the PPA, he said they prepared well in coordination with other government agencies, particularly those in the law enforcement and security sector.

“We in the PPA want every port passenger to have safe and comfortable travel but travel convenience should not be the responsibility of just one party. So we ask our kababayan to plan their travel well, starting from securing tickets as early as possible,” said Santiago.

For his part, Nartatez reminded the public to observe rules and regulations while traveling and to cooperate with authorities to help prevent untoward incidents.

“Our police personnel will be on the ground 24/7 not only to ensure their safe travel but also to secure business and residential areas during the entire Christmas season,” said Nartatez.

“And we ask our kababayan to do their share in this effort by taking safety measures for themselves and immediately inform your Philippine National Police of any peace and order-related concerns,” he added.