How do you solve a problem as basic as water in a developing tourist town like Panglao? For years now, this one problem was handed down from one officialdom to another but no one dared to lick it for good. There's no question that the Bohol Water Utilities, Inc. is salivating that one day Panglao officials led by Mayor Doloriech Dumaluan will finally come to their senses and allow BWUI to penetrate the resort town.

Albeit murmured more in the sidelines rather than in the open, this basic Panglao problem came to the fore during a lecture conducted by the Pacific Consultants, Inc. last Friday at the Bohol Beach Club. The lecture, arranged by Gov. Erico Aumentado, was all about Bohol 's Tourism Master Plan.

The concern of some Panglao resort owners was that while some people are all agog about the reality of having an international airport in Panglao, no one seemed to care about the basic problem of the island—water. Why indeed are Panglao officials overlooking this problem? Is it not enough that Panglao ranks as the number town in Bohol which has the highest incidence of kidney trouble all because of the water they drink? Are we going to wait for the day that the problem will hit epidemic proportion and therefore beyond the reach of human capability to contain? These are fundamental questions that stare right smack in the faces of concerned officials. The next move is yours.