Written by Bryan Roy Salvador
COVID-19 LOCKDOWN
March 15, 2020, Sunday. My nephew, a Silliman University High School student, arranged everything in his dorm room at Doltz Hall to come home with a simple itinerary of a short flight from Dumaguete to Cebu, followed by a domestic flight from Cebu to General Santos City on March 16, 2020.
However, on the same date the province of Cebu ordered an immediate lockdown and denied air travel entry from people coming specifically from Dumaguete effective immediately. Upon receiving the information, we abruptly arranged a bus trip from Dumaguete to Cebu for him to catch the flight for General Santos, but Ceres Bus Liner and other transport services also cancelled all their trips to Cebu from Dumaguete.
Desperate to get out of Dumaguete, we asked Jethro to take a Ferry from Dumaguete to Dapitan and take a bus to Pagadian and spend a night there. Everything went well, except for 1 thing -- I traveled this route in the 90s but wasn't updated that boats from Pagadian to Cotabato no longer navigate the route. With the help of DeMolay Brothers in that Jurisdiction, I was informed that my nephew can take a bus or van from Pagadian to Cotabato, an instant relief yet a temporary one. On that day, Cotabato City also declared a lockdown.
Upon receiving the warning of impending Cotabato City lockdown around midnight, I immediately informed my nephew not to ride the bus to Cotabato, but board a bus for Cagayan de Oro early morning on the following day instead. Unfortunately, I received another information from a Red Shield Fraternity brother based in Cagayan de Oro that there is an ongoing Declaration of Community Quarantine in Iligan City, a location where the bus passes through from Pagadian to Cagayan de Oro.
We still took the risk, but this time, I and my cousin had to drive a long way before sunrise from Sultan Kudarat to Cagayan de Oro, or Iligan City, if necessary just to make sure we would be able to get the already weary boy. A sigh of relief came when everything went well as his bus arrives in Cagayan de Oro Bus Terminal at noon.
We let him eat lunch and talked about the travel ordeal, we then drove back home, exhausted but fulfilled. We passed through a series of temperature and health checks on checkpoints along the way and went on without any problem. Listening to the classic song of John Denver's Take me home, Country road, Jethro fell asleep at the backseat of the car, with this, I also took the long awaited nap, confident that my cousin could drive us safely home, and he did. We were also surprised and glad to see our uncles and aunts who traveled from Kidapawan City just to meet us as we arrived at around 7pm.
This was not just an adventure for a 16-year old high school student traveling alone thru adversities, but a lesson that panicking over problems won't do any good, but a careful planning helps a lot. Had things got worse of not being able to pass thru Iligan City, he could have come back to Pagadian and boarded a Military plane C-130 for Awang airport on the following day, thanks to a good friend from Air Force to let the boy’s name be in the manifest.
My cousins from Davao and Kidapawan, Brothers in DeMolay and Red Shield Fraternity, Notre Dame Batchmates, along with some brethren and friends in the Army, PNP and Air Force who helped me coordinate everything for this successful extraction of my nephew, thank you so much. We also, indeed thank God for the traveling mercy and for the safe trip back home of this young fellow. AND YES, I support our government for the precautionary measures against the spread of Corona Virus, we calmly planned, organized which way in the rural outbacks to pass, and went on with this travel ordeal without complaint, and because of this, luck is on our side.
*Work from HOME and launch your own Wordpress blog, business or personal website, or online store at
www.dreamhost.com Yes, FREE Wordpress migration from your existing web host.
START your OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at
www.fastcomet.com - FREE service to transfer your website from your current webhosting provider.
Latest
RSS FeedsLinkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=116015.0
