What a timely gift for a birthday than having been informed that you are number one in the latest survey for governor? Couple this with the presence of presidential aspirant Gilberto ‘Gibo” Teodoro, Jr. on your birthday celebration and what gives is a double treat rolled into one golden celebration. This in a nutshell best describes the euphoria that will surely engulf the persona of Cong. Edgar Chatto whose 50th birthday is marked today. A big party is slated in Balilihan today in a show of force to dramatize his quest to become Bohol 's next governor. The full force of some 2,500 invitees composing the administration party here from provincial to municipal candidates is in attendance of the birthday bash to be assembled at the Assemblyman Eladio “Kiking” Chatto Gymnasium.
Various sectors-from NGOs to youth and women groups, will join the coterie of elected officials trooping to Balilihan as well-wishers of its great son. All Lakas slates in Bohol 's 47 towns and one city will be there to witness the unfolding of another chapter of history in the making. The slates are made up of incumbent mayors, vice mayors, candidates for councilors, both re-electionists and newcomers, and barangay captains. Teodoro, former KB-Tarlac president at the time Chatto headed the KB in Bohol , will be accompanied by his wife Nikki, a Tarlac congresswoman, and Rep. Anton Lagdameo, husband of actress Dawn Zulueta. Teodoro will induct the officers of the Bohol KB Alumni Association during the same occasion.
SURVEY
In the latest Bohol Special Survey 2010, Chatto amassed a voter's preference rating of 48% for governor which is, according to the credible survey outfit Holy Name University (HNU) Research Center , a “significant lead.” Actor Cesar Montano trailed far behind at 24% while Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera got only19%. Eight percent of the province-wide respondents did not give an answer to the question “If elections were held today, who would you vote from among the candidates for Bohol governor?” His accomplishments like numerous development projects and competence by experience were the top two reasons why the Boholanos want him to be the next governor, according to the HNU survey done from January 28 to February 8, this year. The people also cited Chatto as a leader who is approachable, amiable, helpful to the needy, a good man and has principles which other do not possess. Chatto is expected to render an accounting as the working congressman of the First District since his birthday celebration this year can likewise serve as a culmination of his accomplished three terms in the House of Representatives.
Among Chatto's milestone legislations are the laws on the establishment of the Bohol Island State University (BISU), first and only of its kind in this province, expanded Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES), and National Tourism Act of 2009, all he principally authored in the House. He crafted, as one of principal authors, the pro-poor Cheap Medicines Law and corruption-targeted Anti-Red Tape Act. His legislative performance has matched his efforts to execute impact projects like the concreting of major roads and nationalization of essential provincial roads, widening/concreting of the vital causeways connecting Panglao island to mainland Bohol via Tagbilaran City, airport improvement, on-going implementation of the international cruise ship port project in Catagbacan, Loon, Congressional District Library of Bohol which is one of only three in the country, school buildings and facilities, aids to farm groups and to upgrade agriculture as a whole, modern rise of the Tagbilaran Maternity Center and Children's Hospital, and scholarship and other study assistance programs which have supported already thousands of students who are children of poor or low-income families.
As in the past, Chatto has focused his birthday celebration this year on inaugurating projects and other development –oriented activities. Chatto has made the people feel the responsive presence of government thru his regular funds and subsidies as well as special aids to indigent patients, countless of whom have gained second lives for his help. His employment and livelihood initiatives, including free technical/vocational trainings and skills education, have benefited many Boholanos. Chatto's interventions have also left lasting impressions on the sectors of women and the disabled, among others, as well as the lives of the overseas Filipino workers who have helped keep the economy afloat. He has rescued already countless migrant workers from critical conditions, even from imminent death, abroad.
HOW THEY FARED BY DISTRICTS
Chatto consistently garnered highest votes in the First District at 57%, Second District, 46%, Third District, 42%, and Tagbilaran City , 52%. Across economic class, 56% or more than half of Class ABC picked Chatto for next governor. He is also the commanding choice of class D at 46% and class E at 46%. Herrera got 8%, 23% and 16% from the three classes, respectively. Montano got 19%, 23% and 29%, respectively. Fifty percent of the female and 46% of the male voters preferred Chatto as against the two other contenders. Voters in all age brackets from 18 to 45 and above gave Chatto a wide margin. In the survey in the urban areas, Chatto got a total of 51% and in rural areas, 47%, as against Herrera's 15% and 21% and Montano's 26% and 24%. The survey noted an “almost” equal distribution of Boholano voters in the three Bohol districts. Chatto topped in the previous surveys of HNU, which has learned and mastered its public pulsing system from the Social Weather Station (SWS), and those initiated by other independent outlets. (Ven rebo Arigo)
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