Gov. Edgar Chatto on Friday entoned his first State of the Province Address (SOPA) in clear, straight and firm terms, projecting a more prosperous Bohol and happier Boholanos in 2011. In front of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan members led by their presiding officer, Vice Gov. Concepcion Lim, the 25 th provincial chief executive voiced confidence of collectively hitting the aims because the people now have leaders who can empower them. He themed his current-year governance the “Bohol 2011: Mauswagon ug Malipayon” as he stressed in his SOPA a kind of leadership really “leading the Boholanos along the path of development and empowering them as stakeholders.” The governor summarized his seven-month-old administration's accomplishments, from the unprecedented to the modest, that have transformed the provincial government into a proactive, participatory, shared and result-oriented “selfless servant leadership.”

After providing the impetus and guidance, the HEAT Bohol and LIFE HELPS strategies are bound to concretize a sustainable development framework that archs over needs, conditions and times, Chatto declared. The HEAT means “Health and sanitation, Education and technology, Agriculture and food sufficiency, Tourism and livelihood.” Of wider scope, the service mission slogan LIFE HELPS encompasses “Livelihood, Infrastructure, Food, Education, Health, Environment, Leadership development, Peace and order, and Sports, youth and marginalized sector development.” The governor announced that the New Bohol Airport Project (NBAP), now in final re-evaluation, is at last timed for flight to reality with the “go signal” form the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to complete the land acquisition and social preparation. Once the pre-implementation phases are finished, the national government will sign a grant agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the crucial repackaging of the billions-worth project into the public-private partnership (PPP) modality, Chatto said. This is prior to the bidding before the end of the year, “barring any unforeseen circumstances.” The governor cited the support of the vice governor and the provincial board members who approved the province's 2011 budget of over P1.212 billion in record time.

MAJOR THRUSTS

Chatto is certain of the thrusts in 2011 being more guided by his HEAT and LIFE HELPS missions, but not without remaining cognizant of his sustainable development call, “Green Bohol,” to emphasize environmentally-sustainable progress. These thrusts will be pursued in an enabling environment of good governance and transparency in dealings. Capitol's top programs on health involves the universal Philhealth coverage, hospital upgrading, quick response teams, primary health care thru the purok system, Botica sa Barangay, primary nutrition, HEAT caravans, mobile clinics, and maternal and child care centers, among others. The dynamic learning program (DLP) for all high schools banners the quality education campaign together with the CPG Scholarship Program and Education Subsidy Fund, proghrams for more school buildings, Health for School, Day Care workbooks for early childhood development, High Schools for the Arts, and mobile library and municipal libraries. Agriculture will be enhanced thru the Bahay Kubo FAITH (Food Always In The Home), RAPID (Rice Accelerated Program for Institutional Development Program), fishery/marine conversion, upgrading of Bohol native chicken strain/breed, dairy development, LIFFE HLB (Livestock Intervention for Food and Family Enhancement under the Let's Help Bohol Program), organic fertilizers thru vermicomposting, rehabilitation of coconut farms thru the small coconut farmers' groups, and food product development and expansion of ITS SAFE (Integrated Technology Systems and Service Amenities for Food Enterprises).

While the new airport is beneficial to these fields, tourism and livelihood is boosted this year with the tourism summit in March, cultural renaissance program, operationalization of the Balicasag MOA, international cruise ship port in Loon, information and communications technology (ICT) and micro, small and medium enterprises support, and business process outsourcing investments Climate change is making hell, prodding environmental thrusts such as the deputation of legal officers as environmental law enforcers, watershed rehabilitation/enrichment and tree enterprise, climate change center creation, Coastal Law Enforcement Council/marine protection, Environment Code review, reactivation of the CELEBOSOLE (Cebu, Leyte, Bohol, Southern Leyte) Management Council, Bohol Marine Triangle conservation, sand and gravel monitoring, nvironmental management system ISO 140012 latest certification. Chatto led in the planting of some 5,000 trees around Bayongan dam in San Miguel to mark the capitol Family Day last year. Year 2011 has been declared as the United Nations Year of Forests.

Another highly relevant stroke done by Chatto for environment was his executive order last December creating the Bohol Biodiversity Complex Consortium. Infrastructure programs include more nationalized roads, the Provincial Roads Management Facility (PRMF), water supply/sanitation/sewerage, ICT infrastructure and technology, CPG Sports Complex improvement, power demand thru renewable energy, irrigation facilities, barangay waterworks development, and barangay energization. Initial P153 million will be devoted to build roads and bridges this year. Governance is enhanced thru leadership development for barangay and SK officials and transparency thru the faithful posting of financial transactions on the Internet. The governor boldly reformed several systems in the running of the provincial departments and offices, proving that politics plus will equals positive transformation.

He has regularly updated the Boholanos of the doings of his government on his weekly (every Firday morning) live interaction with the media “Kita ug Ang Gobernador,” which is heard live worldwide via Internet. Chatto's peace and order campaign stands on three pillars---LGU-led, with law enforcer support and citizen participation. The Legal Assistance for Effective Law Enforcement gets more support while capitol intends to strengthen programs related to anti-drug councils, Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT), and rebel returnees' sustainable livelihood thru the Bohol Peace Forum. Standout programs for individual excellence in competitive sports and youth leadership are up for promotion. The sectors of the disabled persons, special children, women, senior citizens, OFWs and others will keep getting special attention. In the midst of these thrusts, the governor emphasized that his core thrust is still poverty reduction, Chatto being also aware of the reckoning time for the attainment of the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015 as universally set by the United Nations.

BOLD IN 6 MONTHS

The first six months of the Chatto-Lim tandem unprecedented events and bolder acts that articulate in deeds participatory and shared governance. Bohol conducted the first provincial health summit in the country, assembling an unprecedented number of health advocates, practitioners and other stakeholders who assessed and planned for affordable, accessible quality health care for the Boholanos The provincewide drive against dengue was launched while the incidence of human and canine rabies clipped at zero. Capitol launched the Gov. Edgar M. Chatto Best Performing Municipal Rabies Prevention and Eradication Council (MRPEC). The province of Bohol was the only Philippine LGU privileged to present local government strategies during the Webinar on World Rabies Day, a simulcast worldwide seminar on rabies prevention carried live on the web with main anchor in New York. This was followed by the recent seminar in Mexico attended by Provincial Veterinarian Stella Marie Lapiz.

The two events have led to the selection of Bohol as the venue of the next World Conference for International Rabies Experts this July. On education, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan enacted the Education Subsidy Program, in itself a capitol legacy to the poor but deserving students. The Bayanihan Coordinating Center was established as a participatory tool to addressing lack of school buildings. The seed system and utilization among farmer groups have been institutionalized while the first-ever Bohol Organic Agriculture Summit occurred late last month in preparation for the passage of the milestone Organic Agriculture Code of Bohol. To institutionalize tourism data gathering, Bohol launched its tourism statistics program assisted by JICA and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The UNESCO declared Bohol as the ASEAN Cultural Capital in July last year, an achievement followed by the historic high-profile world tour docking on the international cruise ship port in Catagbacan, Loon of the Andalucia, a faithful replica of the antiquated Spanish galleon. The Bohol Arts, Culture and Heritage Code (BAHC) has been published in booklet form. The local performing arts have further flourished with the addition of the Abatan Cultural Collective performing group. The all-unprecedented HEAT Bohol caravan, which third staging will be in San Isidro on February 21, People's Day at capitol every Monday, establishment of three more governor's offices at the People's Mansion here , in Talibon and in devolved hospitals, and monthly search for ten model provincial employees have made the Chatto administration “most people-like and people-liked.” The HEAT caravan, which first two pioneering editions already benefited tens of thousands of Boholanos, this month will fall on the very birth anniversary of the governor who will turn “golden plus one.” In his SOPA, Chatto was “extremely grateful” for the “lessons learned” from his predecessors, two of whom are now congressmen, Reps. Rene Relampagos of the First District and Rep. Erico Aumentado of the Second District. The former secretary of agriculture, Arthur Yap, is now the third district solon. (Ven rebo Arigo)