TThe Provincial Development Council Executive Committee recently passed 10 resolutions endorsing sets of infrastructure projects mainly supporting tourism and agriculture in Bohol. During the Executive Committee meeting of the PDC on June 11 in Bohol Tropics Resort, Governor Erico Aumentado cited the necessity to get an immediate attention from the Senate and the House on the conversion of provincial roads in the coverage of the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project phase III (BCRIP-3) into national roads. Certain sections within the coverage of BCRIP-3 remain categorized as provincial roads, like the Tagbilaran and Baclayon diversion or bypass roads and those passing through the Anda Peninsula. Aumentado said the conversion of these provincial roads to national roads may qualify them for funding under the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of South Korea .

The three congressmen from Bohol had already filed the bills for such conversion, and it needs the intercession of the Senate president, chairman of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works to facilitate the approval of these bills and the PDC ExeCom has previously passed Resolution 57-2008 containing the same request. This time, the PDC approved a resolution reiterating the request to Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, as Senate president and Ramon “Bong” Revilla as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works, and Representative Prospero Nograles as speaker of the House to facilitate approval of necessary House bills for the conversion of these provincial roads 3 into national roads for BCRIP-3 to possibly qualify for funding under the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of South Korea. In another resolution, the PDC endorsed the proposed infrastructure programs for 2010 of the three engineering districts of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Bohol to their regional office in Cebu City .

The proposed infrastructure programs cover construction, rehabilitation, repair, widening and maintenance of major national highways and national arterial or secondary roads and bridges in the province that support the Bohol Tourism Road Improvement Project (Bohol TRIP). They also include construction of essential farm-to-market roads that will support national and local development thrusts of poverty reduction and economic growth, and provide flood control and drainage structures which are vital to the disaster risk management strategies of the province, the resolution cited. These infrastructure programs also include the highly urgent improvement and widening of the Panglao Island Circumferential road to avoid traffic problems in the light of the scheduled construction of the Panglao-Bohol International Airport .

The PDC also approved a resolution endorsing the proposal for the provincial government to implement the concreting of the Sagbayan-Danao Road and urging DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to sign the memorandum of agreement for the immediate implementation of the project. The project involves concreting of the five-kilometer Sagbayan-Danao Road on a 50-50 counterparting arrangement where the provincial government and the national government, through DPWH, will each contribute P20 million to raise P40 million to meet the estimated fund requirement of P8 million per kilometer.

Since the provincial government had already prepared the ground for the project including soil stabilization, all that is left to implement is the concreting component for which the DPWH funding goes. In the proposal, the provincial government shall undertake the project, in accordance with national standards of 6.1-meter wide roadway, thickness of eight inches and 1.5-meter road shoulders on both sides. What is needed now is the signing of the MOA for the implementation of the project, according to Aumentado. PDC pointed out in the resolution, that the roadway would improve transport facility and access to the municipality of Danao which has now become “the center of adventure tourism, in Bohol and in the whole Central Visayas ”.

In another resolution, the PDC also requested DPWH, through Secretary Ebdane, to utilize the P10-million allocation originally intended for the construction of a detour bridge for the improvement of the Cambuac(Sikatuna)-Tigbao (Loboc)-Lobgob (Sevilla) detour road. Aumentado said the provincial government has agreed with DPWH and the municipal government of Loboc to start the construction of the urgent bridge project transforming the Loboc Bailey Bridge into an Austrian-assisted Steel Bridge. Since the construction will cause the bridge to be closed to traffic for a period of approximately one year, DPWH needs to create an alternate access road or detour. Moreover, DPWH Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan said that the P10-million allocation could hardly be enough for a detour bridge and would only be wasted. So, the provincial government presented a counter-proposal to utilize the amount for the improvement of a detour road. PDC agreed that the move proves to be the most practical and beneficial for the people of Bohol. PDC had also endorsed to the Regional Development Council, in another resolution, the proposal of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Provincial Head Johnson Sinco to include 19 bridges amounting to P738.5 million in the Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-agraryo- -a bridging project for agrarian reform communities (ARCs).

The project involves construction and installation of pre-fabricated modular bridges and rehabilitation of existing ones in priority ARCs nationwide. Sinco's proposal covers three bridges in ARC Magtacaca in Danao, two in ARBS LHAMP KPT in Catigbian, seven in ARC Bicao in Carmen, one in ARC Bulilis in Ubay and seven in non-ARCs- -one in Tubigon, four in Danao and one in Duero. PDC also passed a resolution endorsing the 2010 budget proposal for locally-funded projects of the National Irrigation Administration in Bohol that include restoration and rehabilitation, comprising primarily of the rehabilitation and improvement of communal irrigation system projects where a total of 918 hectares are to be restored and 449 hectares are to be rehabilitated at a total estimated cost of P128 million.

The proposal covers priority projects like the small water impounding project (SWIP) of Bonotbonot Dam in Buenavista, SWIP of Hibale Dam in Danao and small reservoir impounding project (SRIP) of Cayacay in Mabini. PDC passed another resolution endorsing the proposed P4.335-million municipal waterworks project of President Carlos P. Garcia to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for inclusion in the Kilos Asenso Support Fund that would benefit 1,475 households in barangays Pitogo, San Jose , Tugnao, and Aguining. PDC also approved a resolution endorsing to the Philippine Ports Authority, the proposal to continue the arrastre services of Tagbilaran Maritime Services, Inc. at the tourism port of Tagbilaran City which proved a level of quality and satisfactory service to shippers and passengers over the years. Another resolution that PDC approved during the ExeCom meeting requested Lite Shipping Corporation and other shipping companies to lower their roro tariff rates on motorcycles above 250 cc and vehicles from P1,700 to P800. PDC has also recommended, in a resolution, that the provincial government shall acquire the 24-hectare property of the National Steel Corporation in the barangays of Malayo Norte and Malayo Sur along the national highway traversing the municipalities of Cortes and Balilihan. The area, eight kilometers from Tagbilaran City, could be more ideal for the Carlos P. Garcia Sports Complex than its present location. The provincial government, however, is still negotiating the selling price of the property.