THOUSANDS of passengers crowded airports, seaports and bus stations at the turn of the year as Filipinos rushed to make it home for the usually noisy and sometimes deadly celebration to welcome the New Year.
In Manila, the city government is expecting a massive crowd coming from different places in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to join the various New Year’s eve activities in the city’s public parks.
In Quezon City, chaos has once again dominated the large bus stations in the city and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board official Ariel Inton has admitted that many out-of-line provincial buses have been observed amid the exodus.
In an interview, Antonio Ariel Enrile Inton Jr., LTFRB board member, said he spearheaded the inspection of provincial buses in Cubao and “observed” that there were already about 80 units without special permits as early as 8 a.m.Wednesday and still “counting.”
“The LTFRB was able to issue 800 special permits since November to allow several provincial buses to enter the metro, load passengers and bring them to their points of destination, and conversely,” he told The Standard.
“However, the LTFRB does not have the authority to apprehend out-of-line buses without LTO.”
Manila’s parks development chief Arsenio Lacson Jr. said they have spruced up the city’s parks, especially Rajah Sulayman Park along Roxas Boulevard, which will be the venue of “Sulong Manila!,” the New Year countdown of the city government.
The highlight of the occasion will be a pyro-musical spectacle that will treat Manileños and the general public to a grand light-and-fireworks show coupled with lively music.
Lacson said they also cleaned and cleared the Baywalk area between Rajah Sulayman and the world-famous Manila Bay. They also repainted the plant boxes, pruned the trees, and further beautified the Park to ensure that it will be an eye-pleasing backdrop for the occasion.
“We are also assisting the National Parks Development Committee in beautifying and cleaning Rizal Park for the expected huge number of visitors and gatherings this New Year’s Eve,” added Lacson, the youngest son of former Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson. Rizal Park, more widely known as Luneta Park, has traditionally been the favorite destination of thousands of families for rest and recreation.
Lacson said PDO is maintaining the cleanliness and order of Manila’s 48 parks, monuments, and Center Islands spots all year round and they have assigned scores of personnel to preserve sanitation in these public spaces.
Traffic has become congested both inside and outside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal, especially when thousands of Filipinos disembark from their flights from the Middle East and other areas where there are many Filipino expatriates.
Data from the NAIA shows that from Dec. 1 to 27, international passenger arrivals at Terminal 1, 2 & 3 have reached 1,426,537 passengers, while total numbers of passenger arrivals and departures from both international and domestic passengers have reached 4,811,886 passengers.
Passenger arrivals usually start to clog the NAIA Terminals 1, 2 & 3 between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. with regional flights coming from Japan, Korea, China, Taipei, Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam; while wide-bodied aircraft, carrying mostly Filipino OFWs, come from the Middle East.
Trans Pacific flights arrive from 9 p.m. until past midnight the mainland United States, Hawaii and connecting flights from Europe dominated by balikbayans from US, Canada and some parts of Europe.
By the time passengers from these flights reach the immigration area, the hall is jam-packed with hundreds of people.