The rising sun tilted towards Bohol in Gov. Edgar Chatto's successful week-long sustainable development and risk management mission in Japan with the imminent execution of the new Bohol airport project. He sealed a pact with top Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) officials and met with leading travel and tour agents and investors in the prosperous country known as the “Land of the Rising Sun” and which government assists the ambitious airport venture The Bohol leader dealt with JICA a disaster management partnership based on the experiences and learnings from the epic Bohol earthquake last year and Japan's great Hanshin-Awaji tremor in the long past. The governor led the Bohol delegation, who included Panglao Mayor Leonila Montero, on JICA's invitation and expenses in line with the sustainable environment component of the P7.4 billion airport project. The mission on the component covered understanding natural resources management, monitoring, tourism carrying capacity, sewage treatment and facilities in tourist sites, among others.

In Tokyo, Chatto inked with JICA Director General for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Irigaki Hidetoshi an agreement towards sustainable tourism in the province and continuing adaptive management measures for Panglao island and its surrounding. A mission highlight, the signing was witnessed by Philippine Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary Manuel Lopez, Philippine Deputy Chief of Mission/Amb. Gilberto Asuque, a Boholano from Maribojoc, and fomer JICA Country Representative Takahiro Sasaki. Chatto was authorized by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) led by Vice Gov. Concepcion Lim to represent the province, to which JICA vowed to aid technically in crafting plans, programs, projects and activities affecting sustainable development thru responsible tourism. The governor and JICA director general defined the roles of each party in the implementation of programs and projects. The mission is expected to strengthen the Panglao Island Executive Committee (PIEC), which is presided over by the governor and composed of the LGUs & private stakeholders of Panglao and Dauis with Bohol government and JICA technical staff. At a dinner reception for Chatto's group at Hotel Okura in Square Kojimachi, Tokyo where the signing was done, both the JICA director general and Philippine envoy commended the Bohol leader for his brand of public service.

Chatto's delegation included SP environment committee chair Board Member Abeleon Damalerio, his Panglao Sangguniang Bayan counterpart Kag. Jojo Arcay, Dauis planning office head Ma. Mercedes Salinas, and a team of planning and technical staff from BTO, BEMO, PHO and GO led by Provincial Planning and Development Officer John Titus Vistal. A separate welcome reception was hosted by the Nippon Koei Co., a firm consultant on the airport project, thru General Manager for Environmental Division Akihiko Sasali. At the Governors' Mansion here, Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II led the Local Project Management Team (LPMT) in updating the progress of the phases preparatory to the airport construction and relocation site development, including housing units, for the affected families and land owners, among others.

TRAVEL AGENTS BULLISH OF BOHOL

Travel and tour operators in Japan are bullish of new Philippine product offerings by introducing Bohol to the big Japanese market. Chatto met with Tokyo's top tourism industry players in the presence of Philippine Tourism Attache Val Cabansag and as arranged and hosted at the New Otani Hotel by Department of Tourism Sec. Ramon Jimenenz, who arrived in Japan a week earlier. Cabansag said Bohol is amazingly attracting Japanese industry players as new packages are developed other than the traditional Manila and Cebu products. Industry people in Tokyo thanked Chatto for meeting them to assure the Japanese tourists that “all is well” in Bohol which, Cabansag said, is a “perfect market” for the Japanese who love nature, adventure and white sandy beach fun. They discussed about training Japanese-speaking tour guides to handle a new Tokyo-Manila-Bohol-exit via Cebu tour package. This is hitting three birds with one stone as it offers a variety of experiences, Chatto said.

INVESTMENT

Chatto separately met with Japanese investors who are keen on pouring capital investments in the Philippines. They will visit Bohol soon to explore potential investment areas, especially in the accommodation sector. Among those who met with Chatto in Tokyo were big firms like the JTB Corporate Sales, Inc., Toyoko Hotel Planning and Devt. Co., KRI International Corp., and GM, ST World, Inc.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIP

The new partnership has shaped up to establish in Bohol a strong program on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation thru the institutionalization of trainings in tie-up with national and international organizations. The plan was concretized in another dinner meeting in Kobe, this time hosted by JICA Kansai Director General Motonori Tsuno, in the presence of Hyogo Prefecture International Association Chairman Tomio Saito and Kobe Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution head Kenichi Oki. Saito was a director of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Command Center, which includes Kobe City and other areas in Japan, while Oki was an executive director of the earthquake memorial. Chatto said Bohol's determination to establish a training institute to sustain disaster risk reduction advocacy and measures is gaining support from various groups in and out of the Philippines.

Tsuno said transferring the experiences and lessons learned from the mighty Bohol and Hanshin-Awaji earthquakes can help build a safer future for all. The partnership aims to cultivate a disaster-prepared culture that truly works for mitigating social vulnerability and developing policies, the JICA official said. Chatto and company were escorted by the Japanese officials to the Hanshin-Awaji Fault Museum, Memorial Museum and Hyogo Prefectual Emergency Management and Training Center. They found a model for the proposed Anonang, Inabanga Fault Museum. In Anonang starts a major earth crack---a manifestation of a rare reverse fault movement in the country---that horizontally stretches to kilometers. To the other side of the crack is shown a landmass uplifted by about three meters, raising mountains higher in a phenomenon only nature can author. When Bohol officials then first toyed the idea of a training institute after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake last October 15, organizations and institutions like the Manila Observatory, which is based at the Ateneo University de Manila, quickly confirmed interest in conniving with the province.

TIRELESS MISSION

Chatto's team also visited Ishigaki and other parts of the Okinawa group of islands to study the successful environmental management initiatives in the area. The initiatives have ensured responsible tourism in the face of the significant increase in arrivals after the opening last year of the new airport on the island. A whole day lecture-discussion ensued on the institutional support structures to implement conservation program at the International Coral Reef Research and Monitoring Center. Even while in Tokyo, Chatto had an insightful discussion with Prof. Keita Furokawa on boosting coastal communities thru integrated coastal management. Via skype right from the Hotel Miyahira in Ishigaki, Okinawa, Chatto updated the Boholanos of his first major official Japan trip during his weekly Kita ug Ang Gobernador live broadcast Friday morning. Chatto thanked JICA for continuous support to Bohol all through these years, not just citing its airport and environmental component funding but help as well in rebuilding damaged national roads and bridges. fter the earthquake, JICA, itself amazed by Bohol's recovery, was among the first to bring here relief goods, including temporary shelters. The governor and mayor of Panglao are back here today while the rest of the group stays in Japan for one more week to complete the mission's programs. (Ven rebo Arigo)