GMA OK's 50-50 sharing of P42-M Bohol projects

STILL reeling from her “P24-million ride” during her visit here June 5 to inaugurate a 36-kilometer stretch of the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project Phase 2 (BCRIP 2), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last week again agreed to fund half of P42-million worth of projects for Bohol under the convergence strategy.

Gov. Erico Aumentado who had dinner with the President after her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday and lunch the day after during the Local Government Units (LGU) Summit at the Century Park Hotel said she agreed to take up the tabs for these projects on a 50-50 basis after the Senate scrapped the P5-billion Kilos Asenso Support Fund (KASF) and the P3-billion Barangay Kalayaan Development Fund (BKDF) from the 2006 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The governor however did not just take the Senate's act sitting down. He said allies or not, the senators who scrapped the KASF and the BKDF do not have business staying in the Upper House. “They should not be re-elected; they are anti-people,” he said. The projects – approved the other day by the Provincial Development Council (PDC) that Aumentado chairs – include the public high school development project, Bohol Diagnostic Center , a new building for the Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital (GMPH) in Talibon town and the public high school computerization project.

Of the P42 million, P12 million will go to the public high school building program to close the gap reported by Division Schools Supt. Cerina Bolos. The provincial government will build classrooms at only P300,000 each, unlike the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that pegs each classroom at P450,000 each.

The provincial hospital needs a new building to house 25 beds more. The added capacity along with the equipment donated by the Government of Spain under the Hospital Equipment Assistance Project (HEAP) will qualify it for upgrading into a tertiary level hospital. The GMPH is one of 21 hospitals lined up under HEAP given a P750-million grant by Spain . To get the assistance, President Arroyo leveraged a P250-million counterpart she directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to include in the 2007 budget. This means a total of P1 billion for equitable distribution to the 21 provincial hospitals.

For the hospital building, Aumentado proposed P10 million. To put up the Diagnostic Center , the governor proposed P9 million. Taipan-philanthropist Carlos Chan of Oishi fame has donated P1 million for the purpose. Equipment will be donated. For the computerization program in partnership with the Ayala Foundation under a P19.5-million Gilas Project, the provincial government needs to put up P6 million; the 47 towns, the city and the three congressmen among themselves will put up P3 million while the foundation and other sponsors will pick up the tab for the remainder. The rest will be for more poverty reduction projects, Aumentado said.

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