Passengers face long queues at Araneta Center Bus Terminal

Passengers fill up the Araneta Center Bus Terminal on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019, hoping to get a ride to their home province four days before Christmas Day. (Photo by DAPHNE GALVEZ / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Alone amid the throng of those wishing to go home to their provinces is Diohennis Mortiga, 36, squatting beside his belongings and inhaling the exhaust of buses departing from the Araneta Center Bus Terminal in Cubao, Quezon City.

With taped brown boxes towering over him, containing “pasalubong” for his family and giving him shelter from the sharp sting of the sun, he has been waiting since 5 a.m. on a Saturday for a bus ride that would take him to his hometown in Northern Samar.

It will be the first time in eight years that he will be going home to his family since he moved to the metropolis to seek better opportunities. He currently works as a construction worker.

Unfortunately, rides are already fully booked and he is only waiting for a bus that might have vacant seats.

His only wish is to be able to go home to his family. Mortiga is willing to stay the night at the bus station just for the chance to get a ride. This as opposed to hauling back his luggage back to his home in Fairview and celebrate Christmas alone.

“I hope I can go home so I can be with my family. That will be the happiest for me,” he said in Filipino in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

Araneta Center Bus Terminal General Manager Ramon Legazpi said that some bus arrivals and departures were delayed due to heavy traffic in some areas.

“There were some passengers who were stranded because of the traffic, which we can’t control. We all know the traffic situation here in Metro Manila. So some of the buses were late in arriving and that will also affect the time of the departure of buses,” Legazpi said in Filipino.

He also said that the availability of bus rides had become scarce, with thousands of passengers still expected to arrive at the bus station. In his estimate, passenger volume would hit 6,000 at both the bus station and bus port by Saturday evening.

However, the peak number of passengers will be expected by Sunday, two days before Christmas Eve.

Legazpi advised passengers to book their rides ahead of their travel date to avoid the long queues at the bus station.

“If they have a date in mind when they would want to go home to their provinces, they should take the chance to get a ticket ahead of time so that they need not experience the hassles of being a trans-passenger and waiting in long lines,” he said.

Despite the swell of passengers at the bus station, no untoward incident had been reported at the bus station.

Legazpi assured passengers that the bus station was safe and equipped with ambulances and first-aid responders should anyone need immediate medical attention.

/atm