President Benigno Aquino III will visit for the first time in Bohol following his victory as Philippine President vice the controversial Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Scheduled on Tuesday, Boholanos are bullish of the President’s visit given his pledge of support to Gov. Edgar Chatto’s development programs. The governor who just arrived from a four-day Manila trip said that he had a brief yet “very reassuring” talk with the President on the new Bohol airport project on the day of his State of the Nation Address (SONA). Aquino is expected to pronounce on the ambitious project right during his first official Bohol visit on Tuesday. Chatto and Aquino met together with Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Sec. Mar Roxas and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Sec. Butch Abad at the Congress lounge shortly after the SONA. Another meeting with Philippine Ports Authority was held with the governor being assured the completion of the Loon international cruise ship port, which he started when he was congressman.

On the other hand, the Department of Education (DepEd) is joining the Bohol province in the long-term bayanihan to build more school buildings, to the point of already committing additional fund to the program. The governor attended the meeting of the National Steering Committee of the Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP), which is led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), securing Bohol in the phase three of the project. Free residential lot titling is an important recent LAMP program. Chatto would want LGU-led titling program nationally-assisted, too. Bohol expects further financial resources and technical interventions from other programs that this time are coordinated by the DENR, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Department of Agriculture (DA), which secretary, Proceso Alcala, had likewise a talk with Chatto. This is pursuant to the national government’s convergence strategy, which has been practiced here. In one more meeting, the governor highlighted the degree of collaboration for infrastructure and institutional developments in Bohol under the Philippine Provincial Roads Management Facility (PRMF). Bohol is a top implementor of PRMF, which is aided by the Australian Assistance for International development (AusAID), among the seven pilot provinces and three project expansion provinces which governors attended the meeting, too.

NEW AIRPORT ‘NOT IN DANGER’

On his Friday Kita ug Ang Gobernador broadcast, Chatto declared “there is no indicator that the new Bohol airport (project) is in danger (of failing again.)” Malacañang’s firmer commitment to execute the airport plan has dispelled adversarial perception otherwise solely anchored on the president’s no mention of the PPP (private-public partnership) projects in his SONA. “Boholanos should not be worried because P-Noy is bullish to have the airport project started,” the governor quoted the DOTC secretary who set a meeting at his office after their brief talk with Aquino and Chatto on SONA day. The meeting was attended by Chatto, DOTC men vital to the aiport project, key officials and technical people from the Tourism Economic Zone Authority (TEZA), National Tourism Promotions Board (NTPB), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and PPP Center. Rep. Rene Relampagos and Provincial Tourism Council (PTC) chair lawyer Lucas Nunag, himself a member of the TEZA board, joined the governor in the meeting. JICA repackaged the Bohol project for PPP implementation and already submitted in Japan its preliminary report. Barring any unforeseen hitches, the now awaited final JICA output will determine the bidding and, ultimately, start of the project. All Bohol airport project documents in the keeps of the MIAA were ordered transmitted to the DOTC, which now links with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAP) in the implementation.

The papers of the remaining airport lots for barter are set for signing by DOTC’s Roxas and Department of Tourism Sec. Alberto Lim, with whom the governor likewise met in his fruitful Manila trip. On Friday, Lim was set to meet with the president on the national tourism development plan highlighting three focus areas in the country. These are the central (Manila) gateway and neighbors, Cebu-Bohol in the Visayas and Davao in the Mindanao area. Officers of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) confirmed the areas of focus when they themselves guested during Chatto’s Kita ug Ang Gobernador live broadcast at the Governor’s Mansion. Led by its president Aileen Clemente, the PTAA has held here its national convention. Bohol is momentarily linked with Cebu on account of the absence of a modern standard airport here. In addition, Chatto discussed in his Manila travel the bulk water supply in Bohol which the PPP Center will assist and the sewerage system on Panglao island, where the billions-worth new Bohol airport is set to sprawl.

P1B READY AND MORE

The Aquino administration has ready P1 billion this year to start the Bohol airport while private investments are flooding in as an effect of the PPP scheme. Next year’s proposed national budget includes P22.1 billion for strategic support to the PPP initiatives, nearly doubling this year’s P12.5 billion. The P8.6 billion of the 2012 allocation for PPP support is set aside for DOTC-assigned projects that include the Bohol airport.

BAYANIHAN

The long-term bayanihan school building program of the province with the Armed Forces of the Philippines – National Development Support Command (AFP-NADESCOM) gets additional fund once DepEd inks the agreement. The fund is on top of the P26.5 million that DepEd has counterparted with the province to build 32 school buildings this year based on their existing short-term partnership. The bayanihan, in itself a PPP model, in Bohol further involves the business community like the local shopping malls, a bank foundation, private sector and even Boholano groups outside the province, among others. Bayanihan classrooms are built of standards at lower cost and equipped with furniture, toilets, water and power connections and ventilation, plus free computer units, books and school supplies, among others. (Ven rebo Arigo)