PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will visit Bohol anew – her third so far this year – to officially commission Bayongan Dam of the Bohol Irrigation Project Stage 2 (BHIP 2). Gov. Erico Aumentado said Malacañang has confirmed the October 12 Presidential visit after he informed her that the water level at the dam has reached the 40.75-meter mark – enough to irrigate almost all of the service area. The P3.6-billion project funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) targets to irrigate a maximum of 5,300 hectares after the remaining portions in the service area shall have been leveled and developed into rice paddies. The dam area of 314 hectares can impound 34.5 million cubic meters of water that covers the irrigation needs of the service area for two cropping seasons a year. The BHIP 2 is one of the “most expensive” projects of the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). Aumentado however justified this, saying that the foreign exchange was a big factor contributory to its cost overrun. To note, the exchange rate at the time of the bidding was only P40 to the dollar.

But at the time of the award of the project to the winning bidder, the peso turned weak so that the exchange rate was already P54 to the dollar. Then there was price escalation, he explained. Expected in the president's party during the official commissioning wherein the president will ceremonially release water from the tunnel outlets are top brass from DA, NIA and other Malacañang officials. Assisting her in the ceremony will be Aumentado, Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera, Reps. Edgar Chatto, Roberto Cajes and Adam Relson Jala. Mayors Claudio Bonior of San Miguel, Eutiquio Bernales of Ubay, Judith del Rosario-Cajes of Trinidad and Engr. Modesto Membreve, BHIP 2 project manager. Also expected to be part of the around 3,500-strong crowd to throng the commissioning are Project Manager Yung Qu Park of the contractor Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd. and his team as well as representatives of Nippon Koie, project consultant. Aumentado will give the welcome address while Membreve will give a b\briefing on the project. The dam is part of the agricultural come-ons of Bohol and is well entrenched in the Bohol Tourism Master Plan aside from the Bohol Agricultural Master Plan. As such, Membreve also embarked into a beautification and reforestation program that makes the dam area attractive.

He has planted vast areas to African tulips and other flowering shrubs. He also caused the construction of berthing areas for floating restaurants, pumpboats and even paddleboats. These will be for foreign and local tourists alike who might want to go hook and line fishing. To support this activity, the impounded water will be seeded with tilapia fingerlings. Part of the commissioning ceremony will be the turnover by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to NIA-Bohol of tilapia fingerlings. Cajes will introduce the President, who is expected to deliver her speech in a mix of English, Cebuano and Tagalog. As in previous engagements, the President will limit poses for photographs. For Friday's event, the photo opportunities will be by group – with the local government unit (LGU) of San Miguel, Trinidad and Ubay, the irrigators associations who are beneficiaries of the project, Hanjin and NIA.