Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol September 19, 2012 (PIA)—Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., vows to step into the tense situation, which the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and the sea commuters and tourists coming to Tagbilaran are in for a seemingly inextricable tangle.
Secretary Jimenez however stressed that the primary concern in resolving the issue is passenger and tourist welfare.
“Tourist and passenger safety, that is how we approach it, he said during a press conference organized at the sidelines of the Visayas Business Conference where Jimenez was guest speaker.
On this, he said he would take everything into consideration when he calls a Department of Tourism Convergence conference to iron out the kinks which have been the meat of the complaints of homing Boholanos and arriving tourists at the city tourist port.
Media representatives brought the issue of passenger complaining about the PPA policy of getting the passengers to walk towards the tricycle stand in a bid to put in order and ban tricycle hawking in the area near the tourism arrival center.
PPA manager Emmanuel Boholano however, in radio interviews said the policy is in response to the messy situation when tricycle and van drivers compete against each other hawking passengers to the detriment of tourists getting a good impression when coming in.
For that, tricycles, except when dropping fares to the pier are banned from going into the area to hawk, but only as the PPA calls those lined at the tricycle stand for their turn to pick up passengers.
Boholano shared that those taking up the line at the tricycle stand are only those who are members of the tricycle drivers accredited at the pier.
The PPA policy then puts passengers without pre-contracted rides lugging on their luggage to the tricycle stand about a few hundred meters from the tourist arrival area.
This then ignited nasty comments from aging passengers who then could pick up tricycles a few steps away from the arrivals area.