ETMS reactivation faces legal hurdle

ETMS reactivation faces legal hurdle | Daily Tribune

The former secretary of the Department of Transportation (DoTr) may find himself in hot water for his decision to scrap the electronic ticketing management system (ETMS) project proposed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) for faster ferry booking.

The ETMS, which features unified electronic ticketing capabilities, was scrapped by former Transportation Secretary Jimmy Bautista along with the governing board members of the PPA.

A reliable source said that after current Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon ordered the revisiting of the ETMS, he said its reactivation faces legal hurdle.

“The service provider wants to file a case because Secretary Bautista and others suspended it,” the source said.

The PPA, headed by general manager Atty. Jay Daniel Santiago, awarded in 2021 the P499.9-million contract to the joint venture of cloud specialist NextIX Inc. and Finnish developer Carus Ferry AB Ltd.

The PPA pilot-tested the ETMS in 2020 featuring the ETMS machine.

Two years later, ETMS was suspended by the DoTr in September 2022 and was scrapped by the PPA Board in 2023.

During his visit to the Batangas Port last week, Dizon said it will implement an e-ticketing system at Batangas Port, hopefully, to be rolled out this year, to prevent passengers from queuing and waiting too long to buy sailing tickets.

“There will be many kiosks, it will be very nice especially for our passengers... It can provide convenience for passengers as they won’t need to queue. Sometimes the ticketing booths are not yet open and tickets are not yet sold so others would have to wait outside while the booths are still closed. But with e-ticketing, they can go straight inside,” Dizon said.

The DoTr official also noted that the e-ticketing system will prevent transactions with fixers or individuals who buy the tickets for passengers for a fee, bypassing legitimate procedures or regulations.

Further, Dizon said the e-ticketing system will prevent overloading as they could easily check the capacity of the ships.

Dizon said the new system will be rolled out for the Christmas rush.

On the other hand, Santiago said they are revising the functions of the ETMS in preparation for its reactivation, which includes refining some of its outdated features.

The PPA said about 1.73 million travelers are expected to flock to public transport nationwide this Holy Week.

As of Holy Monday, a total of 412,311 passengers were logged by the PPA throughout all public ports.

While based on records of the Philippine Coast Guard, it monitored 72,895 outbound passengers and 63,335 inbound passengers in all ports nationwide as of 15 April.

Moreover, 4,380 deployed frontline personnel in 16 PCG Districts have inspected 685 vessels and 922 motorbancas.

The PCG has placed its districts, stations, and sub-stations on heightened alert from 13 to 20 April 2025 to manage the influx of port passengers.