33 passengers from Manila stranded in Davao de Oro

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Thirty-three passengers from Metro Manila are stranded in Monkayo, Davao de Oro due to the enhanced community quarantine.  

The passengers, who were on a Philtranco bus, was pulled over at a checkpoint in Barangay Pasian on March 21.

The regional task force on coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) prohibits anyone from entering Davao City and Davao provinces.

The passengers, among them a pregnant woman and a one-year-old child, were taken to the Davao de Oro Farm Training Center in Monkayo for a 14-day quarantine.

Reports from Davao de Oro emergency operation center said the bus left Pasay on March 16 with 27 passengers, including the driver and the crew. 

The bus picked up 10 more passengers in Sogod, Leyte. Two passengers disembarked in Bayugan and another three in San Francisco, both located in Agusan del Sur.

Gov. Jayvee Tyron Uy said the bus and its passengers were supposed to be barred from entering the region.

However, Uy said he decided to provide shelter to the passengers after assessing the situation.

“This will only be allowed once, only once and no more than that because as a father, I could not baer to send a one-year-old child back to their point of origin at this time of distress,” Uy stressed.

He said the provincial and municipal government units would provide for the needs of the passengers, including milk and diapers for the child.