IM Miciano, family hope to return home in Davao amidst COVID-19 pandemic

john marvin miciano
IM John Marvin Miciano and his family want to go back to Davao City.
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--The father of International Master John Marvin Miciano said that he and his family look to return home to Davao City as the tournaments his son is supposed to participate in have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Stranded kami dito sa Manila dahil na-cancelled ang mga foreign tournaments at gusto na naming bumalik sa aming home city," Johhny Miciano, Marvin's dad, told Dugout Philippines on Saturday through a text message.

The 20-year-old woodpusher, as revealed in a separate interview by his father last week, was supposed to be flying to different countries for the past three months if not for the pandemic.

With offline events called off, Marvin Miciano, like other chess masters around the world, have been participating in online events locally and internationally.

He, in fact, won the National Juniors Rapid Online Chess Championship last week and qualified for the zonal qualifier for the Asian Junior Rapid Online Chess Championship scheduled for next week.


His dad, however, revealed that even their flight back home was cancelled following President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement to place Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine in hopes of "flattening the curve" in the fight against COVID-19, which has now placed 13,777 Filipinos in sick bay as of 4 p.m. Saturday.

"Uuwi na po kami ng Davao via Clark last March 16 pero na-cancelled ng airline ang flight namin due to enhanced community quarantine in the entire Luzon and in Davao. Kaya napilitan kami bumalik dito sa narentahan na [one-bedroom] unit sa Sampaloc, Manila," Johnny Miciano bared.

He added that as the days go on in their extended stay, their struggles of even going outdoors continue.

"Hindi kami lumalabas dito for more than 2 months na dahil dito sa Sampaloc marami ang positive. Ang mga kailangan naming pagkain at iba pa ay pinabibili lang namin dito sa staff ng unit na narentahan namin," Miciano further shared.

He too bared that the current lockdown has taken a toll on his son's health as well.

"Nakakulong lang kami dito walang gaanong araw at hangin kaya parang unhealthy na lalo kay Marvin ang magtagal pa dito," Johhny rued.

The Sampaloc district has the second-most number of positive COVID-19 cases here with 189 as of 8:45 p.m. Friday, just below Tondo 1, which has 306.

Miciano's family hopes that they will be able to fly back to Davao City through a sweeper flight being made by the city government there.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno