Bohol's own disaster response has been considered by many as a model of quick action, reliability and preparedness, said Bohol Gov. Edgar M. Chatto during his State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered Friday morning before members of the provincial board during its regular session. “(The) systematic method of organizing our relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts led many people to make observations on the Boholanos' resilience and indomitable spirit,” Chatto said in his speech which was aired live over all radio stations in Bohol. Despite the earthquake and the typhoon that hit Bohol last year, the governor said he considered 2013 as a year for “celebration of human compassion as people from all walks of life gave a piece of themselves in sharing what they had to the victims and survivors of natural calamities.”

On Oct. 15, 2013 a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake toppled centuries-old Catholic churches in Bohol. The tremor also claimed more than 200 lives, injured some 750 persons and destroyed more than 45,000 houses, with more than 300,000 people, or about one-third of Bohol's population, badly affected by the quake, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Three weeks later, super typhoon Yolanda whacked hundreds of homes in some 27 Bohol islets located near the Leyte-Samar side. In his hour-long speech, the governor recognized and thanked various individuals, officials, institutions, and organizations from both the public and public sectors for helping Bohol rise from the rubbles. “In the wake of the Great Bohol Earthquake, Boholano faith and resilience became very clear. There are so many people to thank for keeping the Boholano spirit alive during this time,” Chatto said. “Foremost among them are the honorable members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) led by Vice Governor Inday Conching Lim,” he said, adding that their “presence of mind and readiness to serve prevailed during the darkest hours after that 7.2-magnitude earthquake.” Due to the immensity of the damage, Chatto recounted, the vice-governor called on the entire SP members to a special session to declare Bohol under a “state of calamity” merely hours after the Oct. 15 earthquake.

“This led to the immediate and smooth implementation by all component LGUs of appropriate quick-response strategies using their local calamity funds, while the provincial, national and international disaster teams were still on their way,” pointed out the governor. He further thanked Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who, together with his cabinet members, arrived in Bohol a day after the most powerful earthquake in the memory of the Boholanos struck the province. He said that Aquino delivered “quick and direct relief efforts, while also assuring Boholanos of sustained support from the national government over the long term.” After the arrival of the President in Bohol, “many others followed – people from all walks of life, agencies and organizations from all sectors – ODA agencies, business and the private sector, civil society, search and rescue teams from the public and private sectors, LGUs from other parts of the country, NGOs, CSOs and foundations, rescue teams from other provinces, a multitude of volunteers of all ages, and many more,” recalled the governor.

“To name them all would be impossible. They will remain our faceless heroes,” Chatto said in his speech. “The earthquake, Yolanda, and other challenges took us through our darkest times, but they also brought out the best in us as a people, and showed the rest of the world the strength and character of the Boholanos,” the governor added. However, Chatto has also admitted that there is still much to be done in the aftermath of the twin calamities. The provincial government's rebuilding efforts have been laid out in the “Post-Great Bohol Earthquake Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan,” a strategic roadmap to restoring Bohol's glory developed by multi-sectoral groups. “Copies of the plan have been transmitted to the President and Secretaries of Oversight Agencies, including the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), as well as all concerned national agencies, to facilitate their funding of the appropriate rehabilitation projects,” the governor said.The projects listed in the rehabilitation plan would cost P12.314 billion, according to Chatto. During the SOPA, the governor had also enumerated many projects and programs accomplished before and after the earthquake. “You may have noted that a great percentage of our efforts in the last few months of the past year were devoted to addressing the impact of the earthquake,” Chatto told a jam-packed SP session hall. “This does not mean that we have deviated from our development agenda summed up in a mantra known here as “HEAT-IT Bohol HELPS LIFE towards the BIG LEAP.”

HEAT IT stands for Health and Sanitation, Education and Technology, Agriculture and Food Security, and Tourism and Livelihood and Information Technology while BIG LEAP is short for Bohol's Inclusive Growth Leads to Equitable and Accelerated Prosperity, all an articulation of Bohol's priority programs. Gov. Edgar M. Chatto dubbed 2013 as a celebration of humanity, human compassion in particular, to describe the overwhelming support that poured in the wake of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in October. In his State of the Province Address, delivered before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during their session on Friday, the governor highlighted the province's disaster response as a model of quick action, reliability, and preparedness, crediting it to the support of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the guidance of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), and the active involvement of agencies and organizations that comprise the PDRRMC. The organization of agencies into clusters for Food, Shelter, Camp Coordination and Management, Logistics, Health, Education, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Infrastructure, Protection, Livelihood, Nutrition, Early Recovery, Emergency Telecenter and Information and Communication made for a more systematic coordination, with each cluster designated to specific relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts. The governor stated that while a bigger part of efforts was dedicated to responding to the calamities that hit the province in the last quarter of the year, the Provincial Government has consistently pursued its development agenda under the framework HEAT IT Bohol for the BIG LEAP and with renewed vigor in light of the adversities.

Health

In Health, the governor reported there were neither outbreaks nor epidemics reported in 2013, even in the period following the earthquake and no human rabies cases for the last two years (2012 and 2013). Also noted was the decreasing number of underweight children, from 9,331 in 2012 to 8,797 in 2013 (before the earthquake). Hospital services were improved through the modernization program, which also resulted in increased hospital income from the 10 PGBh-owned hospitals before the earthquake, with four of these hospitals exceeding their 2013 targets. Four major medical and surgical missions (including heart surgeries) were conducted, which have benefited Boholano patients who would otherwise not have been able to afford operations costing millions of pesos. In addition, funding for PhilHealth coverage of indigent Boholanos increased to P37.6 million, a 100% increase over the previous year. Assistance has also been consistently provided to senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and individuals in crisis situation; as well as to Boholano Overseas Foreign Workers. As a testament to outstanding implementation of social welfare programs, Bohol was conferred the Gawad Paglilingkod ng Sambayanan (GAPAS) Award and the Panata Ko sa Bayan Award, on top of the Seal of Good Housekeeping Silver Award from the DILG.

Education

 In Education and Skills Development, financial assistance costing P3.171 Million was allocated to support the education of 160 college students under the Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Scholarship Program. P3.0 million was allotted to support the education of 1,200 more college students under the Bohol Educational Subsidy Program. The Teacher Reinforcement Program was implemented for 155 province-paid public secondary school teachers as program recipients and School Building Program continued in partnership with DepEd. In Agriculture, Food Security, and Environment, continued implementation of high-performing agriculture programs, such as Rice Assistance Program for Institutional Development (RAPID), gave Bohol a record of having the highest-ever production, at 3.4 metric tons per hectare (as reported by Department of Agriculture), which broke last year's record of 3.0 metric tons. Implementation was also continued for the Bohol Corn Seed Assistance Project (BCSAP), On-Farm Mechanization Program, High Value Crops Development Projects, Bahay Kubo FAITH HOPE and CHARITY, Fisheries Resource Management and Development, Ka-Assistance For Barangay Agricultural  Growth (Ka-ABAG), LETS HELP BOHOL Program, Livestock Operation Centers, Dairy Development Program, and the Bohol Rabies Prevention  and Eradication Program (BRPEP), a Galing-Pook Award-winning program.

The Countryside Development Program – Purok Power Movement (CDP-PPM) sent teams to 64 barangays throughout the province to address their particular concerns at purok level. The program is closely linked to the agriculture sector although its services go beyond agriculture.  Other closely-related programs are the Social Integration Program for rebel returnees, and the Balik-Bohol Reintegration Program for survivors and evacuees from other provinces who have returned to Bohol to start their lives over again in the wake of Supertyphoon Yolanda. The environment agencies facilitated the implementation of the National Greening Program, Minor Forest Products (MFP) Production, Monitoring and Enforcement of Bohol Mining Ordinance of 2008, Ecological Solid Waste Management and Sustainable Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management.

Tourism

 In Tourism, he said it has become doubly necessary to promote Bohol as widely as possible, to assure tourists and visitors that all is well, our natural assets are as beautiful as ever, and that we have risen from adversity. In order to get the message out, the Provincial Government supported the Panglao delegation, together with the Bohol float, to compete for the first time in the recent Sinulog Festival of Cebu, and feature the Bohol float with Boholano models and artists, to increase exposure for the province. Bohol also participate in national and international tourism activities, such as the Philippine Travel Mart and the China Outbound Travel  and Tourism Market in Beijing, and the the “Bohol 50% Sale,”. The province also hosted national and international arts and culture activities, such as Likha Asya, the Philippine Arts Festival, the Philippine-Korean Friendship Concert, and the Rondalla Rocks Concert. Prior to the earthquake, an unprecedented amount of new investments was seen in the province, at 90% of the P1 billion target. 

Information Technology

IT initiatives have resulted in the development of many in-house applications:  Financial Management Information System (FMIS), Human Resource Information System (HRIS), Property Records and Inventory Information System, and Financial Transactions Tracking System (FiTTSys). Outsourced electronic systems, such as the mandated Electronic New Government Accounting System (e-NGAS), Phil-Animal Health Information System (Phil-AHIS), Electronic Budget System (e-budget), Enhanced Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System (eTRACS) were installed, with assistance from PRMF, and the the Project Monitoring & Evaluation Information System (ProME-IS) continues to be developed, also with assistance from PRMF. The DOST-DOH Rx Box, with TV-wide space internet connectivity to provide health consultation services, was piloted just this week at the Tubigon Community Hospital. A major step was hurdled in the direction of opening up to the BPO Industry in the completion of the fiber optic cable installation project of PLDT, meeting industry standard in infrastructure. Tagbilaran City has been identified as an emerging destination for the IT industry, since many locators have identified Bohol as an ideal province for their businesses. The biggest gain from the year that was is the display of the Boholanos' limitless capacity to unite and work together. The challenges of 2013 brought out the best in the people, and showed the rest of the world the true strength and character of the Boholanos – unshakeable faith, resilience, and spirit, Chatto said. This is his 3rd State of the Province Address since assuming office in 2010. (with reports from Leah Sumampong)