THE Bohol Provincial Government has lifted the requirement that inbound travelers must be included in the list endorsed by the local government unit of their destination to the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force and the coast guard or aviation authority.
Also in the latest executive order issued by Governor Arthur Yap, pending-for-approval S-PaSS travel passes from fully vaccinated individuals are also accepted.
S-PaSS, which stands for “safe, swift, and smart passage,” was institutionalized by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. It is intended as one-stop communication and coordination platform for travelers and local government units (LGUs).
The Bohol governor had earlier issued an order to temporarily accept vaccination cards in lieu of vaccination certificates from fully vaccinated individuals entering the province.
Some passengers outside a ticketing office of a fastcraft at Pier 1 in Cebu City failed to travel to Bohol on Saturday, Oct. 30, after their names were not included in the endorsement list, radio dyLA reported on its Facebook page.
Several Boholanos working in Cebu are going home for the observation of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November). This two-day observation is locally known as “kalag-kalag.”
Yap issued on Saturday, October 30, Executive Order (EO) 52-B, which amended EOs 52 and 52-A.
Section 2 of EO 52-B states: “Effectively immediately, the endorsement from the component City/Municipal LGUs to the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force and ultimately to the Philippine Coast Guard/Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines of the list of approved travelers shall be lifted and will no longer required.”
Section 1 of the same EO now only requires fully vaccinated travelers to the province a) vaccination card issued by any local government unit, Department of Health (DOH)-accredited medical institution, private company, and foreign country or any state/province thereof authenticated by the DOH-Bureau of Quarantine; b) government-issued identification card; and S-Pass travel pass (approved or pending approval).
Unvaxxed travelers
For unvaccinated travelers, they are now only required to present a negative RT-PCR test result taken within 72 hours prior to departure along with an approved S-Pass travel pass; however, children who are four years old and below are still exempted from this requirement.
“Allowing the use of vaccination card as a requirement for travel to... Bohol shall be temporary. The vaccination certificate requirement shall be reimposed once the DOH website vaxcert.doh.gov.ph shall be rendered fully operational,” read Section 6 of EO 52-B.
To prevent the proliferation of fake vaccination cards, Section 4 states that a traveler’s S-PaSS application will be the “basis of criminal prosecution should they utilize and submit or falsified vaccination cards.”
EO 52 lifted the negative RT-PCR test result requirement from travelers entering Bohol. It only requires them to show vaccination certificates generated from vaxcert.doh.gov.ph duly authenticated by the Bureau of Quarantine along with S-PaSS from the Department of Science and Technology.
Yap amended this EO by issuing EO 52-A, which temporarily allows the presentation of vaccination cards issued in Bohol along with government-issued cards and S-PaSS travel pass for travelers who could not secure vaccination certificates.
Yap, in his EO 52-A, said he “anticipates” that the local government units in Bohol and “other parts of the country will not be able to finish uploading the vaccination records of individuals,” which he said resulted in the “inability to generate vaccinate certificates... even until the fast-approaching Christmas season.” (KAL)