Fresh from the successful leg of the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo Enchanting Camotes over the weekend, Gov. Gwen Garcia is doubling down on her efforts to bring in more tourists to this cluster of islands by finding better modes of transportation to and from Camotes.
On Tuesday, April 18, Gov. Garcia met with Oceanjet officials headed by operations manager Gene Lastimado to discuss the possibility of opening a sea route for the fastcraft operator from Liloan’s Pier 88 to Poro town in Camotes and vice versa.
During the last Suroy-Suroy, Capitol tapped Oceanjet to ferry almost 400 guests from Cebu City’s Pier Uno all the way to Pilar town.
The trip’s travel time was just a little over two hours. On the way back to the city, from Poro town to Pier Uno, travel time was faster at 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The governor thanked Oceanjet management and staff for their participation in making the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo a success.
She said she has heard nothing but positive feedback from Suroy-Suroy guests who boarded their fastcraft in going to and from Camotes, and that she would be delighted if Oceanjet can open a permanent route for their fastcraft from Liloan to Poro.
Lastimado thanked Gov. Garcia for the trust and confidence and promised to bring the matter to their upper management.
They will also have to inspect the viability of Liloan’s Pier 88 and come up with a feasibility study, he added.
If everything goes as planned, travellers to and from Camotes will have plenty of trip options, as Super Shuttle Roro is also slated to begin operations in the Liloan-Poro route on Thursday, April 20, after the governor had secured the agreement of its CEO, Paul Rodriguez, earlier this month.
On top of that, Vallacar Transit, operator of Ceres buses, also committed to provide bus routes from mainland Cebu to Camotes aboard the Super Shuttle, making trips to and from Camotes faster and more convenient. | Babie Jane Revecoy