My First-Hand Experience on the Samar and Leyte Transportation System

This month, I did the longest travel of my life, an eight day island hopping on the grandest scale. Why am I considering this an island hopping on the grandest scale? Well, it’s because I island hopped from the island of Luzon, to Samar Island, to Leyte Island and then to the island of Mindanao. Isn’t it grand right?hehehe! Anyway, a few days ago, I travelled from Camarines Sur all the way to Davao. Actually, hindi naman talaga diretso ng Davao ‘coz me and my friends visited some tourist destination in CARAGA Region before heading out to Davao City as our final destination. I travelled from Camarines Sur to Surigao City and it took me 1 and a half day for that travel. I started Wednesday morning at 7am and I arrived at Surigao City at around 2pm, Thursday. My return trip was way much longer because I travelled from Davao to Camarines Sur. I left Davao City on a Monday evening, 11pm, and I arrived at Camarines Sur at around 10pm Wednesday. I will also be making other entries for those travels and vacation in CARAGA Region and I will just focus here about my experience on the transport system in Samar and Leyte.

Ferry/RORO plying the route Matnog to Allen

First of all, there won’t be lots of pictures here, kaya kung picture ang hanap nyo, malamang madidisappoint kayo.hehehe! Anyway, to start with my stories, I travelled for 4 hours from Camarines Sur para makarating sa Matnog Port in Sorsogon Province. This port is the jump off point to Visayas. From Matnog, there are several ferries that ply the Matnog-Allen route. Allen is a town located in Northern Samar. There are two ports in Allen. One is called Looc Port and the other one is Dapdap Port. The Looc Port has more ferries operating on a daily basis compared to Dapdap Port. The two ports are just about several kilometers apart. I think more or less 3 to 4 kilometers. The Dapdap port is the port being used by Montenegro Shipping Line while the Looc Port is being serviced by Santa Clara Shipping Line and some other shipping companies. There are no fixed schedule for ferries servicing the Matnog Port and Allen Port. The ferries leaves whenever there are sufficient number of cargoes or trucks or buses that boarded their ships. According to one ship personnel, kahit daw madami na ang pasahero kung hindi naman daw puno ng truck and bus ang barko nila ay hindi naman daw agad sila umaalis.

Matnog Port, Matnog, Sorsogon

Matnog Port, Sorsogon Province

The travel time from Matnog to Allen is just 1 hour and the fare for all ferries/RORO is 120 pesos plus terminal fee of 11 pesos. By the way, the travel time also depends on the weather. If the sea is somewhat rough, it could take about 1.5 to 2 hours of travel. Upon arrival at Looc Port in Allen, you have several transport option to travel to different parts of Samar and Leyte Island. The Samar Island is comprised of 3 provinces, namely:  Northern Samar, Samar, and Eastern Samar. The Leyte Island is comprised of 2 provinces: Leyte and Southern Leyte. These two islands, Samar and Leyte, are linked by San Juanico Bridge. Another province is also linked to Leyte Island, and that province is Biliran. These provinces comprise the Eastern Visayas Region, or Region 8. O ayan, may konting geography lesson pa kunwari.hahaha!

Anyway, from Allen, or from Looc Port, you have several transport option to go to your destination in Region 8. You can either ride a passenger van, a jeepney or a bus. The fastest way of course is riding a passenger van. Unlike in some parts of the country, some of the passenger vans plying the Allen to Tacloban to Ormoc route doesn’t wait for the van to be on its full capacity. The seating capacity for most of the van is 15 passengers but they usually depart at the terminal when they have at least half of the seating capacity. In Allen, there are several van companies that have routes to the major cities in Region 8. These are: Duptours van, D’ Turbanada Transport, The Grand Tours, and Van Vans. These passenger vans have routes from Catarman, Northern Samar to Tacloban, Leyte. They also have trips from Allen to Calbayog, Calbayog to Catbalogan, Catbalogan to Tacloban, and they also have vans bound for Ormoc and Naval, Biliran Province. Compared sa ibang probinsya na puno na ang van bago umalis, these vans in Samar and Leyte doesn’t wait na mapuno ang van bago umalis ng terminal kaya pwede nyo din sila parahin and for sure kung may bakante hihintuan din kayo. The rates for these passenger vans vary. They don’t have the same rates, the other van companies has cheaper rates for some destination while some are much more expensive. You can ask them if you want to know their rates or you can ask the Iocals if they know the fare.

Nautical Highway

I wasn’t been able to get all the contact numbers for all the van companies. I only have the contact numbers for Grand Tours and D’Turbanada Transport. For Grand Tours, their contact numbers are (055) 300-2151 and +639177008071. Their last trip from Allen to Tacloban City is 5pm, but if there are less passengers that will travel to Tacloban, ginagawa ng driver hanggang Catbalogan City na lang sila and you’ll have to transfer to their van that has the Catbalogan City to Tacloban City route. For D’Turbanada, their contact numbers are: +639287891636 or 09064621145. The D’Turbanada van last trip to Tacloban from Catarman and passing Allen is 9pm. Most of these passenger vans, D’Turbanada, Grand Tours, Duptours and VanVans, have Toyota HiAce fleets kaya magkakahawig lang mga itsura nila. Lahat sila kulay puti lang. Ang pangalan lang sa harap at sa gilid ang magdidifferentiate kung anong kumpanya sila.

I’ve tried riding all those 4 passenger van companies and wala naman masyado pagkakaiba. But the Grand Tours are a bit more expensive compared to others but they also have a much more beautiful terminals compared to other van companies. If you’ll be travelling from Allen to Tacloban, then better ride a van because it is much faster but it is much more expensive compared to riding in a bus. The van travel time from Allen to Tacloban City is 5 to 6 hours and the fare ranges from 300 to 350 pesos. If you want a cutting trip, then you can ride a van from Allen to Calbayog City, which is about 1.5 hours of travel for 100 pesos, then ride another van from Calbayog City to Catbalogan City, which is about another 1.5 hours of travel for 80 pesos and then from Catbalogan, you can ride another van to Tacloban City, for a fare of 150 pesos and a travel time of 2 hours.

If you’re bound for Eastern Samar province and you’re coming from Allen, pwede kang bumaba sa Buray, that’s the junction going to Borongan, Eastern Samar. If you’re coming from Allen or Calbayog, the junction is about 20 to 30 minutes ride from Catbalogan City.

There are also buses and jeepneys connecting the different cities and provinces in Region 8. You can ride a bus from Allen to Tacloban but it could take you about 6 to 8 hours of travel. It’s a cheaper option but it would take much longer time to reach your destination since madaming stopover and laging pumipick-up ng pasahero ang mga bus. You can also ride a jeepney from Allen to Calbayog. Riding a jeepney could also take longer travel hours but it is somewhat cheaper. If you’ll be riding a van from Allen to Calbayog City, it would only take about 1.5 hours of travel but if you’ll be riding by bus or jeepney, it could take about 2 to 2.5 hours of travel.

From Allen, you can also ride those buses that are bound straight to Davao City. These are the buses na makakasabay mo sa ferry/RORO. These buses are from Manila that are bound for Surigao City or Davao City. Southern Leyte is also the jumpoff point to Mindanao.  You can ride a ferry at Liloan Port to Lipata Port, Surigao City or you can ride a ferry at Benit Port in San Ricardo town to Lipata Port, Surigao City. The route via Benit is much shorter. If you want to go to Lipata Port, ride a bus bound for Sogod town and then transfer to a mini bus or jeepney bound for Liloan. You can also ride a van at Tacloban terminal that is bound for Liloan. The travel time from Tacloban to Liloan is about 4 to 5 hours by bus and 3 to 3.5 hours by van.  The first trip of bus bound for Sogod, Baybay, Bato and Maasin is 3am. The travel time from Liloan Port to Lipata Port in Surigao City is 3 to 4 hours, depending on the sea condition.

Benit Port, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte

Passenger Lounge, Benit Port, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte

Montenegro Ship at Benit Port, San Ricardo

There’s a faster way to travel to Mindanao via Southern Leyte. The nearest port to Lipata Port is the Benit Port in San Ricardo. The travel time from Benit Port to Lipata Port is just about 1 to 1.5 hours and it is much cheaper compared to those ferries at Liloan Port.  To go to Benit Port in San Ricardo from Tacloban, you can ride a bus bound for San Ricardo or you can also ride a bus bound for Sogod, and then from Sogod, transfer to a mini bus bound for Benit, San Ricardo. The travel time for bus from Tacloban to Benit is 5 to 6 hours. The travel time from Sogod town to Benit, San Ricardo is about 2 to 2.5 hours. There are also passenger vans bound for Benit from Tacloban.

Passenger Lounge, Lipata Port, Surigao City

Lipata Port, Surigao City, CARAGA

Lipata Port, Surigao City

In most part of Leyte and Southern Leyte, the buses, vans and jeepneys last trip going to other town is as early as 5pm. So if you don’t want to be stuck at a certain town at ayaw mo matulog sa terminal at gasoline station, kagaya ng nangyari sa akin, be sure to catch the trip before 5 pm. You can also rent a motorcycle or habal habal but they’re going to charge you a little bit expensive. They call it pakyawan. You’ll have to pay for the seating capacity of the motorcycle, which is 3 to 5 passengers, plus you’ll need to pay for their return trip since they won’t get any passenger when returning to their town terminals.

There are also buses that are bound to Manila from Davao or Southern Leyte or Leyte but most of the time, they won’t allow you to ride the bus if you’ll be travelling to short distances only, that means travelling within Samar and Leyte islands only. Lugi daw kasi sila kasi yung uupuan mo daw ay pwede na nila ibigay sa mga pasahero na mapipick up nila na papunta ng Manila. Bachelor Bus has daily trips from Ormoc and Tacloban that are bound to Surigao City, Butuan City and Davao City. So that’s it pusit! Those are the information that I can share for you regarding the transport system in Samar and Leyte Islands.