Next week the provincial government will hold a two-day poverty fair from October 30-31 to dramatize its program to ultimately lick poverty in Bohol . This is a big step the province is taking to address the biggest stumbling block to Bohol 's march to progress and development. For as long as there are Boholanos deprived of the basic needs of a decent life, no administration can claim total success. Poverty incidence is always an indicator of an administration's sincerity to serve the people. Poverty has so many faces and so the ways towards eliminating it will also be many. This is the objective of the poverty fair - to get as many donors to commit to support the implementation of poverty reduction projects identified and proposed by the different local government units.

To be poor is to lack, if not to be without, the necessary resources to meet the requirements of comfortable life. For local government units, to be poor is also to lack the necessary resources to implement projects that would improve the lives of the people. Bohol right now, while it has counted many successful programs that improved the social and economic conditions of the people, still lacks the means to implement the program and projects that it has identified to address poverty adequately. It needs the help of outside sources like the donors and financial institutions to implement its poverty reduction programs and projects. The poverty fair is the forum to get these donors' help in funding the project proposals developed by the different municipal local government units.

The fair will be organized in such a way that donors and funders will just shop for the more attractive proposals. But first a poverty situation will be presented by the Provincial Planning and Development Office to give the donors a glimpse of where they or their funds and resources could fit in. Data generated by the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan, a computer software developed by a non-government organization (NGO) for poverty mapping will be used. The successful holding of this poverty fair will put Bohol in the position to realize its target of reducing poverty incidence from 47.3% to 23% by 2015, a target that Gov. Erico B. Aumentado has set as he begun his second term. When he assumed office in 2001, Bohol was a member of the Club 20 or the 20 poorest provinces of the country. By 2005 the human development index (HDI) report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) placed Bohol on the 41st slot – up by 24 notches. Insurgency influenced barangays also dropped from 305 in 2001 to just 42 by the end of 2005. With determination and good planning, the poor of Bohol may yet be seeing light at the end of the poverty tunnel in the very near future.

NOTES: Panglao never ceases to give case studies for students and researchers of local government administration. The local government oversight committee looking into the Local Government Code should be thankful to Panglao, particularly Mayor Doloreich Dumaluan, for giving more color to their studies. Mayor Dumaluan has practically put to the test the stability of every provision of the Local Government Code on the powers of the local chief executive (LCE) that can be put to the test.

The previous years and months he tried to test environmental laws by operating a beach resort without an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and when slapped with a penalty he managed to get a reduced amount that he did not pay for a while. When DENR forced the issue by issuing a cease and desist order (CDO), he again managed to continue operating even after having issued a manifestation to comply with the (CDO). And when finally DENR padlocked his resort, he still was able to continue accommodating guests by having them enter through another gate.

Last week the Court of Appeals' Special Twentieth Division dismissed his petition for Certiorari with prayer for the issuance of a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to impugn and nullify the preventive suspension slapped on him by the Ombudsman Visayas. The preventive suspension was issued by the Ombudsman as a result of a case filed by some Panglao officials against Mayor Dumaluan for violation of the Building Code, the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Conduct Unbecoming of an Official. Now we heard he is at the Supreme Court trying to get a reversal decision in his favor. Mayor Dumaluan is indeed wearing a mayoralty hat different from what the Local Government Code has prescribed. Let's watch how the end of this will teach MPA students and local government researchers.