Vice Governor Rene Relampagos is finally back to Bohol and is happy to have made his first public appearance during the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) on Tuesday, August 11, 2020.
Relampagos assumed his post as Bohol’s vice governor July 6, 2020, after arriving in Manila from the United States. He has been presiding over the SP sessions, including the special session where Gov. Arthur Yap delivered his State of the Province Address (SONA) on July 22, 2020, via online process through the internet. He said that this is not unique to his case as even some councils in the towns in Bohol are allowing virtual presence in sessions. He also pointed out that the Congressional representatives of Bohol are able to attend sessions via online or through teleconferencing platforms such as Zoom.
He said that he is thankful that the SP amended its internal rules to allow him to preside over sessions virtually. This includes directives from the national and provincial governments to allow virtual presence of elected officials during sessions due to the pandemic.
Relampagos arrived in Bohol from Manila on July 29, 2020 and stayed in a resort in Panglao for the mandatory quarantine, he told The Bohol Tribune in a radio interview over Open Forum program on August 11, 2020.
He said in the interview that he stayed for six (6) days in quarantine. The vice governor said he availed himself of the new protocol that a person under quarantine may cut short his stay in quarantine if he can undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the fifth day and obtain a negative result of the test.
His swab sample was one of the first 40 samples tested at the new molecular laboratory in the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, the vice governor revealed in the interview.
BACKGROUND
Relampagos said that he filed for a vacation leave back in February 2020, with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). His vacation leave was from February 8 to 17, 2020, the vice governor said.
He then went to the United States for a vacation. Relampagos revealed that while he was staying in the US, his relatives there urged him to seek for medical treatment.
Moreover, he revealed to The Bohol Tribune that he had treatment for his medical condition, after which he was asked to stay for several weeks to recuperate.
By the time he received clearance from his doctors to fly back to Bohol, he was unable to do so due to a lockdown in the United States and in the Philippines.
It can be remembered that due to the pandemic, the Philippines imposed a lockdown in our country, banning all air travel going into the country.
By June 2020, Relampagos took advantage of the flights allowed to land in the country from the United States, he added in the interview. However, he was only able to fly to Manila on the first week of July, after his prior booked flights got cancelled.
Relampagos had to stay in Manila as there were no more regular flights coming to Bohol.
In the same interview, he thanked all people who supported him and prayed for him while he was away and stranded outside Bohol.