7 vans with Visayas-Mindanao returnees held in Bicol

LEGAZPI CITY –– Seven vans bringing several locally stranded individual (LSI) bound for the Visayas and Mindanao were flagged down on Wednesday morning at a quarantine checkpoint along the Maharlika Highway in Milaor town in Camarines Sur province, the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said.

Norman Peñaflor, LTFRB Task Force Colurum enforcement team leader in the Bicol region, said the vans with private registration plates were impounded at the agency’s compound in Legazpi City after the drivers failed to show transport franchise documents.

Peñaflor said the vans were allegedly rented to bring 56 passengers, who were bound to their hometowns in the Visayas and Mindanao.

The passengers were allowed to proceed to the port in Sorsogon province, where they could board a vessel bound for Samar en route to their provinces.

The reports said individuals stranded in Metro Manila, who wanted to return home to Bicol, the Visayas, and Mindanao, would hire public utility vehicles (PUVs) or private cars and vans and pay P6,000 to P10,000 each for the trip.

The rising incidence of COVID-19 cases in Bicol was attributed to the influx of returning residents from coronavirus hotspots, prompting the IATF Bicol to tighten security and quarantine measures in all its borders.

Colorum vehicles are privately registered motor vehicles operating as PUVs but without proper authority from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

LZB