PPA logs over 1M passengers amid Undas exodus

MANILA, Philippines — Over one million passengers flocked to different ports across the country amid the Undas exodus this year, according to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) on Sunday. 

In its latest passenger traffic update, the PPA said that 36,753 passengers were monitored as of 8 a.m. on Sunday, which also falls on All Saints’ Day. This brings the total passenger count from October 27 to November 1 at 1,026,049 travelers.

Of this figure, the PPA logged the highest number of passengers on Saturday with 245,718, followed by 222,874 on Friday.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: Undas 2026 | Nov. 1

The PPA earlier said that it expects a total of 1,934,604 passengers from October 27 to November 5. This estimate is higher than last year’s forecast of 1,905,063 passengers across all ports in the country. 

PPA’s projected top five ports are Iloilo River Wharf, Babak Port in Davao del Norte, Batangas Port, Jordan Port in Guimaras, and Sasa Port in Davao. 

Last Thursday, new Department of Transportation (DOTr) chief Vince Dizon inspected the Manila North Port in Tondo and instructed PPA official Jay Santiago, the port’s operations manager, and travel provider 2Go to implement a 24/7 ticketing system for the said port. 

READ: Grandma stays whole night outside North Port due to lack of 24/7 ticketing staff

In response, Santiago said that the proposed ticketing system is feasible where he ordered the 2Go to deploy at least one personnel with a working computer to assist passengers who arrive in the port even late at night to secure their tickets. 

This came after Dizon met a 54-year-passenger inside the port and found out that the latter had to stay outside the port for a night as she could not immediately secure the earliest trip to Bacolod. /ms