By: JUNE BLANCO

People who doubt how proximate Gov. Erico Aumentado is, to the powers-that-be, should start eating crow-- now. For days on end, stakeholders of Bohol 's most ambitious project— Panglao Bohol International Airport , were in suspended animation as to whether it will see the light of day. But Gov. Aumentado knows how to push the right button. Push he did when he met Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Thursday evening. In a meeting, the lady President swiftly resolved the nagging financial problem of the Panglao Bohol International Airport by supporting Gov. Erico Aumentado's formula of constructing the runway and allied facilities ahead, and the terminal building through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme. President Arroyo made the action during the “emergency” meeting on the airport requested by the governor at the Bahay Pangarap in the PSG Compound across the Pasig River from Malacañang.

She has temporarily moved out of the Palace to make its grounds fully available as disaster relief operations center for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy that hit the country last week. Up until now, some badly hit areas including Metro Manila are still cleaning up the mud brought by floodwaters that rose with the rain spawned by the typhoon. Rescue and relief efforts are still going on in the areas where the water has reached up to the second and even third floors of buildings and has not completely receded. Calling direct from Manila Friday – the morning after the meeting – Aumentado told his radio audience in The Governor Reports simulcast live over stations dyRD and dyTR in Tagbilaran City and delayed broadcast over dyDL in Carmen town that The President immediately ordered Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi who supported the Aumentado formula earlier on, to implement the project soonest.

She also instructed Socio-Economic Planning Sec. and Director General Augusto Santos and Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan, both of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), to respond immediately to Cusi's letter informing them of the project implementation with the runway construction and installation of the lighting and navigational facilities first, which are within the P4.27 billion project cost earlier approved by the Neda Investment Coordination Committee Technical Board (ICC-TB).

When informed by Aumentado that the D. M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI) under its president Jorge Consunji who also heads the DMC Construction Equipment Resources, Inc.,, and the Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. that as a consortium with DMCI, owns Maynilad Water Services, Inc. under President and CEO Rogelio Singson are interested to construct the terminal building by BOT, the President instructed the governor to notify them of her decision. The governor has scheduled a meeting next week with the parties concerned, Cusi and the Neda authorities, to craft the BOT terms of reference (TOR). President Arroyo also ordered Director General Ruben Ciron of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), formerly the Air Transportation Office, to privatize the Tagbilaran, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and other airports, and allocate P1 billion for the Panglao Airport. Ciron readily consented.

However, Rep. Edgar Chatto ( Bohol , 1st District) and Aumentado agreed to push for the restoration of the P1 billion outlay for airports under the proposed 2010 national budget for the Panglao Airport as “back-up” funding in case the materialization of the privatization fund would be delayed. The governor requested Chatto to work with Speaker Prospero Nograles and the Committee on Appropriation to restore the allocation, and provided the congressman the documents to support such move. To recall, the Panglao Airport woes started when the Philippines-Japan Airport Consultants, Inc. (Phil.JAC) submitted its revised detailed engineering design, this time costing P7.54 billion – a 76% cost overrun on the original P4.27 billion approved by the Neda ICC-TB. It was aggravated by the realignment by DBM of the allocation for airports including Panglao's – from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to CAAP in the 2010 General Appropriations Bill.

These adverse developments prompted the governor to ask the President for an urgent meeting which Malacañang originally scheduled on Oct. 6. However, upon being informed by Sec. Gabriel Claudio that the non-implementation of the project this year could be the biggest issue against the administration bets in next year's elections, President Arroyo advanced the meeting to Thursday. It was also Claudio who prodded the governor to expound on his BOT solution for the terminal building. In meetings of the Panglao Island Tourism Development Inter-Agency Task Force, the governor has always advocated to construct the runway and allied facilities ahead of the terminal building and its allied facilities, having foreseen the financial difficulties if both are implemented simultaneously. Others who attended the meeting were Trade and Industry Sec. Peter Favila, Ciron, Tourism Undersecretary Phineas Alburo, Philippine Tourism Authority General Manager Mark Lapid, Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Oscar Sevilla, USec. Remedios Poblador, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Chief Joaquin Lagunera, MIAA Assistant GM Tirso Serrano and other representatives of DBM, DoTC, DOT and Neda. Meanwhile, Cusi announced that he is now ready to accept all bets that the Panglao Airport construction would push through. Aumentado, on the other hand, said this latest development means there is no need for him to resign as governor. He had staked his governorship on the implementation of the airport project before the President's and his own term ends on June 30, 2010 .