Relief vehicles moving at faster pace in Matnog

MATNOG, Sorsogon—Vehicles carrying relief goods have started moving at a quicker pace along the road leading to the Matnog Port.

“The vehicle queue at the Matnog Port has been reduced to one kilometer as of Tuesday from the 6-km gridlock last Friday,” said Senior Supt. Lito Pitallano, head of the Regional Tactical Operation Center (RTOC), which manages the loading of vehicles going to Samar and Leyte on vessels at the port here.

Bulan port

He said the opening of the Bulan Port, 20 km west of Matnog town, to cater to trucks carrying relief and emergency supplies had eased the gridlock at the port here.

Pitallano on Tuesday said that all passenger vehicles were accommodated at the Matnog Port while cargo trucks for relief and emergency operations could be loaded onto vessels at the Bulan Port.

In Bulan, two big roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels each with a 25-vehicle capacity, were awaiting vehicles for loading, he said.

Queue system

Vehicles carrying relief, which were caught in the 6-km gridlock, have started moving after authorities on Sunday agreed to establish a queue system, said Chief Supt. Victor P. Deona, Bicol police director.

Deona said the number of vehicles that would be allowed to go inside the port terminal would be equivalent to the number of vehicles shipped to Allen, Samar, during the 45-minute to 1-hour travel from the Matnog Port.

A 300-meter queue was established in the towns of Casiguran (57 km from Matnog) and Irosin (19 km from Matnog) and in Matnog town proper.

Each town with “control centers” manned by Army soldiers and police personnel manages the movement of traffic and the number of vehicles moving from one control center to the next.

Deona said personnel manning the control centers were equipped with radios to relay instructions on how many vehicles could be moved based on the number of vehicles loaded in the vessels.

Vehicle registration

He said the first step was for all vehicles going to Samar-Leyte to register with the RTOC manned by police personnel in Tabon-Tabon, Daraga, Albay (more than 100 km away from Matnog), along the Maharlika Highway where the registration of vehicles would be processed.

Deona said the police personnel were in close communication with the Office of Philippine Port Authority in Matnog through e-mailed information on the vehicles and its load for number assignments that would be used as basis of priority in the loading procedures.

The Matnog Port normally handles 400-600 vehicles a day for the Ro-Ro service, according to Marina Administrator Maximo Mejia Jr.

Outpour

Mejia said that beginning on Friday when there was an outpouring of help from Luzon, the number of vehicles soared five times more than the terminal’s daily capacity.

He said the fleet in Matnog consisted of eight Ro-Ro vessels with a capacity of 12 to 13 vehicles per vessel before four big vessels with a capacity of at least 20 trucks arrived on Monday.

Mejia said two more 20-truck capacity vessels were expected to arrive at the Bulan Port.