22 Pogo workers, 2 police escorts barred from entering Cagayan province

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines — Members of the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force had barred 22 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) workers who tried to sneak into the province, authorities said.

They reportedly tried to enter the province from Metro Manila after being escorted by two members of the Police Security and Protection Group in Camp Crame.

In a belated report, Col. Ariel Quilang, Cagayan provincial police director, said the Pogo workers were denied entry into the province on Thursday as a protocol to avoid transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

But the task force had allowed Benedict Wong, the 35-year-old manager of Eastern Hawaii Casino located in Santa Ana town, to enter the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport, Quilang said.

Wong, however, was required to undergo the two-week home quarantine.

“As he (Wong) is a person under monitoring, he was ordered to be under a 14-day quarantine for safety measures,” Quilang told the Inquirer on Sunday.

The workers were on board two delivery trucks and two private vans when they were flagged down at a checkpoint. The Pogo workers were sent back to Metro Manila, Quilang said.