Strategy good for tourism good for economy – Guv

TAGBILARAN CITY – Contrary to common belief, this is a case of what's good for Juan is also good for Pedro. Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado is tapping the strategy he used in pushing the emerging tourism industry here to likewise attracting investors to boost the local economy. Aumentado found the need-based strategy of matching landowners and tourism investors a phenomenal success such that he is using the same formula in further perking up the province's economy.

The governor Thursday met the managers and branch heads of all 25 banks in the city to fine-tune initial arrangements to compile in one database information on foreclosed properties that are at least five hectares of contiguous land, or properties of clients willing to sell or go into a joint venture. He said he will present the information to prospective investors for pre-matching preparatory to the Bohol Investment Forum – a major activity for the Bohol Day celebration on July 22. The bankers however reported a dearth of five-hectare foreclosed property primarily because banks, as a general rule, do not accept agricultural land as collateral, hence the need for conversion into residential or commercial.

Aumentado and the bankers agreed to expand the list to include foreclosed land under one hectare, and one to under five hectares, and to properties of the same hectarage of clients willing to sell or go into joint venture. This way, he said, investors get a wider range of options to choose from to suit their type of business.

The governor has been “thinking big,” considering that a Filipino-American company has been “badgering him” for a minimum of 65 hectares to establish an 18-hole golf course replete with a town-and-country club. This group is also developing an initial five-hectare lot in Baclayon town for a retirement village. The bankers will submit their list, for consolidation by the Bohol Investment Promotions Center (BIPC) this Wednesday. Meanwhile, Marietta Gasatan of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSB) suggested that the local government units (LGUs) be allowed to apply for one-time land conversion for several owners.

In a breakfast meeting with Assistant Sec. Delfin Samson of the Department of Agrarian Reform's Policy, Planning and Legal Affairs Office where Gasatan again raised the concern, Aumentado suggested to lawyer Johnson Sinco, provincial agrarian reform officer that the re-classification of land, be devolved to the provincial office. Sinco said as things are, reclassification of land up to five hectares can be processed at the regional level only.

Sinco said he will also push for decentralizing this responsibility even as Aumentado said he will get the backing of the 79-strong League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) of which he is the national president. The league's executive board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

The governor also said he will tackle with his colleagues the issue where the government takes a long time to pay landowners who voluntarily offer to sell (VOS) their land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp). He is exploring the possibility of offering yet unsubdivided land to prospective investors, thus helping Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) recover for other banking services the amount they paid to the landowners. Managers Oliver Tabigue Jr. and Ma. Ofelia Tesorio of LBP and DBP respectively sought Aumentado's intercession in the situation, hence the meeting with Samson. Samson and Aumentado are set to meet in Manila again this week.

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