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Elijah Felice Rosales - The Philippine Star
April 7, 2026 | 12:00am
Heavy traffic builds up along EDSA-Taft in Pasay City on April 6, 2026
STAR / Ryan Baldemor
MANILA, Philippines — It seems that higher fares and fewer trips discouraged tens of thousands of Filipinos from making their usual Lenten trips, as passenger traffic in ports declined by 22 percent this year.
Based on data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), passenger volume in ports fell to 1.89 million during the Holy Week, from 2.41 million a year ago.
The data covered passenger traffic across PPA-operated ports from March 29 (Palm Sunday) to April 5 (Easter Sunday), although the last-day records included up to 6 p.m. only.
The highest traffic by day was recorded on April 1 (Holy Wednesday) at 314,143, but this is far from last year’s 386,026. The PPA observed that no day during the Holy Week managed to beat last year’s numbers, indicating slower demand for inter-island transport.
Likewise, the Lenten passenger movement fell short of the PPA’s projection of 2.46 million. PPA spokesperson Eunice Samonte said the forecast was made prior to the US-Israel attacks on Iran that forced Tehran to mount retaliatory measures, causing market disruptions.
The security situation in the Middle East pushed shipping lines to seek higher fares for cargo and passenger services.
“This projection was made before Semana Santa (Holy Week) based on the trend of PPA’s yearly passenger figures,” Samonte said.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), however, recorded 3.4 million sea passengers during the Holy Week, surpassing last year’s figure of three million travelers.
In a statement, PCG spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said that during their nine-day “Oplan Byaheng Ayos: Semana Santa 2026” that started from March 28 until April 5, there were 3.4 million sea passengers.
In previous interviews, Cayabyab reported that in 2025 they only counted three million sea passengers.
For this year, the bulk of the passengers were recorded during Holy Wednesday and Easter Sunday.
On Easter Sunday alone, the Coast Guard monitored 219,297 outbound passengers and 189,629 inbound passengers in all ports nationwide.
The provinces of Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan, Batangas and Oriental Mindoro registered as the busiest ports.
Surge at PITX
Foot traffic at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) for Holy Week 2026 exceeded last year’s figures, despite the impact of rising pump prices.
From March 22 to April 5, a total of 2,657,810 passengers passed through the terminal.
In comparison, foot traffic for Holy Week 2025 – from April 6 to 21 last year – stood at 2,584,307.
Still, this year’s figures stand below the three-million projection.
PITX management ended tracking foot traffic on Easter Monday, when up to 190,000 travelers are expected to arrive home as offices resume operations. — Evelyn Macairan, EJ Macababbad
