Bacolod City – Passenger buses may soon be allowed to cross the borders of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.
Negros Oriental provincial government spokesman Bimbo Miraflor disclosed that the bus trips of the Vallacar Transit Inc. may now ply the Dumaguete-Bacolod route, following issuance of an executive order by Gov, Roel Degamo, adopting the guidelines of the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for areas in the country now placed under Alert Level 2.
Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, including highly-urbanized Bacolod City, are now Alert Level 2 classification.
Miraflor, however, said travelers should comply with the requirements set by both Negros provinces.
The Ceres bus trips to the other side of the island will be allowed exit and entry only via Mabinay, Negros Oriental and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, he added.
Miraflor said that the cross-border trips on Negros Island were temporarily suspended as both provinces had high cases of Covid-19 in the past weeks but a drop in infections is now being reported.
Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, Negros Occidental Provincial Inter Agency Task Force action office, met with representatives of VTI November 15 and discussed the proposed resumption of bus trips from Negros Oriental to Negros Occidental.
Diaz said VTI is going for a 70 percent passenger bus capacity.
Vaccinated travelers are now allowed to enter Negros Occidental, without presenting negative RT-PCR results, except for unvaccinated individuals.
Diaz also said that the provincial government of Negros Occidental needs the passenger manifest of VTI, for approval of their S-Pass, since they are residents of Region 7.
As to resumption of land trips between Negros Occidental and Cebu, through RoRo ports, Diaz requires VTI to make a presentation on the proposed destinations and number of passenger buses to be used. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)