Over 80 provincial officials, legislative staff, and members of the Provincial Board Secretariat will travel to Madridejos on Bantayan Island on Sunday, June 21, 2026, for the first-ever out-of-town session on Monday, June 22.
In a phone interview with media on Thursday, June 18, it was learned that the delegation includes Vice Governor Glenn Soco, all 19 board members, the Provincial Board Secretary, secretariat staff, and three staff members allocated for each official.
“They can charge their expenses on their respective budgets in their offices,” Soco said. “Anything in excess of that, they will have to pay under their personal account,” he added.
Soco explained that the travel expenses of the board members, secretariat staff, and his own office are standard line items within their operational budgets.
“Under our respective offices, there is an allocation for travel, that covers for the out-of-town trips,” Soco said. “But the staff, they are already paid for under salaries and wages in their respective offices.”
This out-of-town trip is the first session for the 17th Provincial Board. Soco clarified that internal procedural rules mandate the group to conduct an out-of-town session once every quarter. However, due to successive calamities in the region and declared states of emergency, the implementation of this program was delayed until now.
“Actually, it’s provided for some internal rules of procedure that we are to conduct an out-of-town session once every quarter. However, because of the calamities that we have experienced, the state of emergency that has been declared, so this is our demo until now. This will be the first for the 17th,” the vice governor said.
According to Soco, the location aligns with the group’s primary goal of connecting with local residents.
“We chose Madridejos because it’s considered to be the northernmost municipality of the province, and that is really the intention of this out-of-town session,” Soco said. The delegation will travel to the island on Sunday, June 21, to conduct an outreach program and a sponsored mass in Bantayan. The formal legislative session will begin at 1:00 PM on Monday at the Madridejos Municipal Hall, following a parliamentary training seminar in the morning for local municipal leaders and youth.
Soco said the session will be live-streamed on their Facebook page, but this will depend on the signal strength in the island municipality.
