The provincial government of Negros Oriental announced on Wednesday that Governor Jorge Carlo Joan "Guido" Reyes, the successor of slain former governor Roel Degamo, has passed away.
According to provincial administrator Karen Molas, Reyes died after battling a lingering illness as confirmed by the governor's daughter. No other details were disclosed.
Molas said in a video message that she was honored to serve under a kind and generous leader.
She added that she had met with Vice Governor Manuel "Chaco" Sagarbarria Jr., who is expected to take over the governorship soon, and informed him about Reyes’ programs and projects.
Reyes died nearly two months after his ally and predecessor, Roel Degamo, was assassinated on his own property in Pamplona, Negros Oriental, in March.
Reyes took the governor's office at the Provincial Capitol in Dumaguete City a few weeks after Degamo's death and swore to continue the activities that his ally had initiated.
This is the first time in more than a decade that two governors of Negros Oriental have died in quick succession.
In 2010, then-Governor Emilio Macias II died just a few weeks after being elected governor. Agustin Perdices, Macias' successor, died a few months later, in January 2011.
The deaths of Macias and Perdices had cleared the way for Degamo, who had been elected as a board member in the 2010 elections, to take over as governor.
Degamo would serve as president until June 2022, then again from October 2022 until his assassination last March.
