Albay fetching 85 of its own trapped in CamSur town by border closures vs COVID-19

LEGAZPI CITY—The provincial government of Albay is fetching at least 85 of Albay residents who were held in the town of Del Gallegao, Camarines Sur province by police enforcing a border closure order meant to prevent entry to the invisible virus that causes COVID-19.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara on Thursday (March 26) heeded the call of the Bicol Interagency Task Force to fetch the trapped Albay residents from Del Gallego.

The governor said after the trapped residents are picked up, their woes will not end yet as they would be turned over to their hometowns’ local government units in open spaces and brought immediately to isolation areas for a 14-day quarantine.

The fetching teams would leave Albay as soon as the residents’ local governments are ready to take them to isolation areas.

Task force records showed a total of 305 persons were caught crossing borders in Del Gallego from infected Metro Manila as President Rodrigo Duterte’s enhanced community quarantine took effect last week.

At least 85 of those trapped were Albay residents who did not have jobs and found employment not readily available in the province as construction workers in Manila.

After a full lockdown was ordered in the Bicol region on Monday (March 23), at least 220 Albay residents were fetched in Del Gallego.

The first batch of 164 trapped residents arrived here last March 21 and the second batch last March 23.

Edited by TSB