By Angeline Valencia
"Don't rock the boat." An appeal for progress sounds like this for Governor Erico Aumentado as he reiterated the merits of the eyed P4.2-billion Panglao-Bohol International Airport Development Project.
The governor contained it in a paid ad published Sunday in major newspapers in the province, the same vehicle that economics professor Dr. Ernesto Pernia used in raising issues against the project.
Describing the multi-billion-peso project as a golden opportunity Boholanos shouldn't miss, the governor made an appeal to Pernia, "not to rock the boat while it is on its steady course to progress".
"It cannot be denied that the pouring of more investments in the province will generate more jobs, livelihood and wider economic opportunities for our people," Aumentado told Pernia.
Aumentado hinted that though it was not necessary to entertain the unsigned paid ad entitled "An Appeal for Clarification on the Proposed Panglao Airport" published on May 4 issue of The Bohol Chronicle, he really came up with a reply and made it known to public through a paid ad containing his letter to Pernia dated May 30, 2008. It is to show his respect for Pernia "as a man of stature and a fellow Boholano.
In the paid ad entitled, "An Appeal for Progress", Aumentado expressed lament that the opposition to the airport project led by Dr. Pernia only came "at a time when it is in the process of implementation.
There had been consultations made in the past and it has been in the newspapers for a while already, yet the group of Pernia only came about half a month before its groundbreaking where the President herself led the time capsule-laying ceremony, according to the governor.
In fact, environmental impact assessment (EIA) study, generating a series of consultations and meetings in the municipality of Panglao, was already done as a pre-requisite for the issuance of the environmental clearance certificate (ECC) by DENR-EMB for the project.
Social preparations have already been in place with the Center for Integrated Development and Social Marketing, Inc. presently attending to some concerns.
The preparations for the project already reached that far, but "parenthetically, no one from the alleged signatories of your May 4 appeal came out to oppose the PBIA during the series of consultations on environment and social preparations," Aumentado told Pernia.
He considers the Panglao international airport project as one of the golden opportunities for the economic boom of Bohol, an opportunity that Boholanos should not miss this time or the same opportunity may not be available in the future.
"I am sure that you share our vision for a greater and progressive Bohol. The establishment of the PBIA is one of the golden opportunities for us to push Bohol forward. And this is one opportunity that we must not miss for our beloved province.
Let us remember that opportunity knocks but once," Aumentado explained. - The Bohol Chronicle
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