TAGBILARAN CITY — Fully vaccinated persons who would like to go to Bohol will now need only two requirements: a vaccination card and a government-issued identification card.
Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap on Saturday issued Executive Order No. 52-B which temporarily accepts vaccination cards in lieu of vaccination certificates and other travel requirements for vaccinated individuals bound for the island-province.
The vaccination cards must be issued by any local government unit (LGU), the Department of Health (DOH), accredited medical institution, private company, or a foreign country.
For those unvaccinated or partially unvaccinated individuals, they must present a negative swab test result taken 72 hours before departure.
An S-PASS certificate will still be needed but only for purposes of registration so that the local government may continue to monitor arrivals of travelers in their respective jurisdictions.
Yap earlier issued an order lifting the negative swab test result requirement for fully vaccinated individuals, but asked them to show their vaccination certificates from the government website vaxcert.doh.gov.ph.
Aside from the authenticated vaccination, EO 52 required travelers to obtain another travel requirement approved S-PASS travel pass from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) website.
Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of Bohol’s second district, who is running against Yap in May 2022 elections, said the governor is making it difficult for fully vaccinated Boholanos to come home for All Saints’ and Souls’ Days and Christmas.
The S-PASS requirement drew flak from returning residents in Cebu City last Friday. While they received their S-PASS, their names were not in the master’s list when they purchased their tickets at Ocean Jet.
The S-PASS is also dependent on the availability of the LGU focal person who approves the application and sends it to the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) for endorsement to the border security authorities.
Netizens took to social media their anger and frustration when they were not allowed to take the boat.