Boholanos join the nation in marking the 113 th Independence Day today on economic and environmental resolve instead of succumbing to fear or compromise. In his Independence Day message, Gov. Edgar Chatto said, all development pursuits must be sustained because independence or freedom from poverty and major deletion of its indicators are yet to be on sight for many. Bohol on Friday closed its unprecedented tourism summit with a bulging hope of truly strategizing the industry as the main pillar of job generation to reduce poverty. But the governor cautioned not to abandon the responsibility to sustain development in exchange for instant gains in the midst of the overshadowing threat of climate change, disasters and calamities. In observing the Independence Day, Chatto will launch at the CPG Park this morning Bohol’s part of the nationwide Billion Trees Program to help mitigate global warming.

The commemoration starts with a eucharistic celebration to be officiated by Bishop Leonardo Medroso at the St. Joseph Cathedral at 7:30 this morning. A motorcade follows starting at Plaza Rizal to the CPG Park for the commemorative rites and launching of the massive tree program, which targets to grow barangay pocket forests all over the province. However, the actual Bohol-wide planting will occur on June 25, the National Arbor Day, to be simultaneous with the planting of one billion trees nationwide. Arbor is the Latin word for tree. Nations around the world mark their Arbor Day on different dates of the year. Only the Philippines, Costa Rica and Cambodia celebrate it in June, the two foreign countries on the 15 th and 31st, respectively.

Chatto encouraged the planting of fruit trees, especially species of gainful economic importance. While they participate in innumerable ways in enriching the biodiversity and preserving the very web of life, trees help restore environmental dignity which is essential to the growing eco-tourism industry as an economic modifier alone. The governor listed down tourism among the three pillars of job generation which his administration is fixed to pursue. The other two are agriculture and information communications technology (ICT) and its sub-sectors like the business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO). The provincial tourism summit, the first of its kind in the country, was highlighted by an investment forum crucial to the province economic agenda to reduce poverty incidence.

STILL A POOR BOHOL

Today’s marking of the nation’s freedom day could inevitably provoke the Boholanos’ thought of freedom from want because the incumbent leadership has inherited a Capitol tagging Bohol a poor Philippine province. Bohol, Zamboanga del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Maguindanao and Masbate had been “consistently included in the bottom cluster of provinces” in reference statistical years 2003, 2006 and 2009. This was according to the 2009 Official Poverty Statistics of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) presented just last February. Chatto assumed as governor only in July last year.

Bohol was also in the top eight provinces having the most number of poor families with 90,735 families in 2003 to 102,522 families in 2009. NSCB secretary-general Dr. Romulo Virola noted that in provinces, poverty incidence correlates highly with per capita expenditure on education, culture and sports/manpower development, total income and total expenditure. This suggests, according to the NSCB official, that poverty reduction strategies should be geared towards higher income but also higher expenditure level. With reports from Ven rebo Arigo)