- MITCH M. LIPA
Bus trips between Negros Occidental and Oriental will resume after the two provinces have been placed on Alert Level 2 until the end of this month.
Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said he told the management of Vallacar Transit Inc., the operator of the Ceres buses, to ensure that Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has issued an executive order to complement the EO of Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, allowing the resumption of public transport operations between the two provinces that belong to different regions.
Negros Occidental belongs to Western Visayas, while the Oriental side is under Central Visayas.
Under the Alert Level 2 category approved by the National Inter-Agency Task Force, the allowed public transport capacity is at 70 percent. Diaz said they have agreed on the load capacity during a meeting Monday and the bus company has retrofitted each unit accordingly.
Diaz said that fully vaccinated persons will be allowed to board the buses, while those without vaccination cards will be required to present negative RT-PCR results from their province of origin.
The bus company is also required to submit a passengers’ manifest for the S-PaSS requirement, based on the IATF guidelines.
Diaz reminded the bus company to comply with these guidelines first before resuming cross-border trips.
He said he received reports that some buses already started operations, especially between La Castellana and Canlaon, Kabankalan and Mabinay, and Hinobaan and Basay borders. – MML
