MikeLigalig.com

By JUNE S. BLANCO
July 1, 2007
 
Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado holds the record of being the only Bohol governor reelected twice; he took his oath of office Friday for an unprecedented third consecutive term.

Sweeping 397,849 votes represented 93.4 percent of the total votes cast. His six opponents shared the remaining 6.6 percent. This is also the widest margin a candidate ever piled in Bohol history.

Aumentado has survived nine elections – all win and no loss – since he first ran as board member in 1967, making him the real “Wonder Boy” of Bohol politics.

In his inaugural address after taking his oath before Judge Baudilio Dosdos in rites held at the Bohol Cultural Center witnessed by over 1,000 people and heard by even more as it was broadcast live over local radio stations dyRD, dyTR and dyZD, the governor thanked the Almighty and his fellow Boholanos for reposing trust and confidence in him.

He called the overwhelming win “a humbling experience and a challenge” to do even better for his constituents. He said he has gently but firmly declined to head anew the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) so he can focus on his ten-point legacy agenda before he bows out of public service in 2010.

He has established the road map for poverty reduction for peace and development. He will strengthen the bridges of unity and cooperation with the private sector, non-government organizations (NGOs) and all those who can bring Bohol to even greater heights.

The Panglao Bohol International Airport Development Project (PBIADP) is the key to ultimate progress, he said. As such, he vowed to expand programs to match strides in tourism. After all, Bohol is now the No. 1 Tourism Destination in the country today.

He will continue vital infrastructure programs like the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project Phase 3 (BCRIP 3), improving provincial roads linking towns, leading to tourism destinations or farm-to-market roads, ports.

“This spells development not only in urban areas but in the rural, especially remote areas as well,” he said.
Also top in his agenda is the improvement of health services and hospitals, building 136 more classrooms for high schools in 2008 under the provincial government’s school building program and pushing forward the program to tap these high schools to the Internet in partnership with the Ayala Foundation.

“This way, our high school students will be at par with their counterparts in other places through global research centers in the Internet to improve their knowledge and understanding,” he said.

The environment is also a big item in his agenda. He has asked Provincial Legal Officer Handel Lagunay to prepare the executive order to green Bohol’s highways by planting fruit and flowering trees along the them and establish pocket forests where applicable.

He has also instructed Deputy Head Renato Villaber of the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) to require quarry permit applicants to submit rehabilitation plans otherwise he will not renew their permits.

“Our pristine environment is our come-on to tourists. That is why we need to enhance our struggle to improve the rehabilitation, protection and conservation of our environment. We need to develop, but we must strike a balance between progress and environment,” he explained.

“These dreams however will not be attained without your help, so let us unite and cooperate: Together we can build a greater Bohol,” he concluded.

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