MIXED emotions were written all over the faces of the residents of Barangay Tigbao in Loboc town when Gov. Erico Aumentado led local officials in inaugurating the bailey bridge that replaced the footbridge that spans the famed Loboc River upstream. The older generation especially of carved furniture makers – the livelihood the village is known for, their wives and contemporaries as well as their children could not hold back the tears when Aumentado cut the ceremonial ribbon that officially made their 45-year dream come true.

The governor was a neophyte politician then – a newly married senior board member also building his home. As such, he went to Tigbao to scout around for a dining table with chairs in carved wood. There he first heard of the aspirations of the residents across the river who longed for “a real bridge” – not just a footbridge – so that they can bring their finished products directly to the Loay Interior Road and thence to Tagbilaran City. The footbridge – as its name indicates – could accommodate only those persons with grit who could do the balancing act.

When Aumentado first bought the dining set, the woodcarver had said he needed to bring the pieces of furniture all the way to the next town of Sikatuna – over rough and circuitous roads at that – in order to deliver them to the board member's house. When he made repeat orders – of a sala set, aparador, China cabinet and other items with the signature Tigbao woodcarving – he also heard the woodcarver's and the other residents' frustrations each time. From board member, Aumentado went on to become vice governor, then congressman for three terms including a stint as deputy speaker before becoming governor. On his third term, he made the extra effort and pulled all his reserve convincing powers to put to good use his favorite strategy in order to realize the Tigbao residents' dream – convergence.

True to form, he leveraged the provincial government's P1.75 million to get P1.5 million from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through Rep. Adam Relson Jala, P100,000 from the municipal government under Mayor Leon Calipusan and P70,860 from Tigbao funds through Barangay Captain Luzviminda Jabonel for a total of P3.42-million that completed the bailey bridge. It took the Provincial Engineer's Office (PEO) under Engr. Edwin Vallejos 95 days to implement the conversion of the footbridge into a 45.85-lineal meter bailey bridge.

And the party began.

Aumentado admits however that one sad note tarnished the inauguration although it did not dampen the celebration – his friend the woodcarver could no longer witness nor pass through the bailey bridge with his woodwork on a four-wheel vehicle: he had died a few years earlier and the governor sorely missed him.