By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Fast craft trips between Bacolod City and Iloilo City will resume starting this coming weekend, October 31 and November 1.

Frank Carbon, operator of Weesam Express, said OceanJet and Weesam Express will resume their trips on October 31 while SuperCat will resume on November 1.

Carbon said they will submit their schedules to the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) this week.

He added that the continuation of the trips will depend on the quarantine status of Bacolod City and Iloilo City.

“We will also wait if the Bacolod City government will already allow leisure trips,” he said.

MARINA regional director Jose Venancio Vero said resumption of fast craft trips was agreed during a meeting with the fast craft operators last October 23.

It was agreed that each fast craft will have one schedule per day, Vero said, but he expects that there will be more trips if there will be more passengers.

He added that strict health protocols will be observed by fast craft operators like disinfection before trips, one seat apart between passengers and wearing of face mask and face shield.

“Passengers should prepare their IDs and only residents of Western Visayas will be allowed to go on board,” he said.

Vero also advised passengers to comply and prepare their documents if they intend to enter the jurisdiction of the provinces of Negros Occidental and Iloilo, noting only the highly-urbanized cities of Bacolod and Iloilo have allowed their resumption of passenger sea travels.

He also announced that there will be no fare increase yet for fast craft travel./DGB, WDJ