Bohol is K. Adenauer performance awardee

“I attribute to the unity of the Boholanos the giant leap of the province out of Club 20 – 17th among the country's 20 poorest provinces out of 79 in 2001 – to the 52nd place this year,” Aumentado said the other day during his weekly program The Governor Reports simulcast live over all AM radio stations in Bohol. To note, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2005 Philippines Human Development Report pegged Bohol in the 41st position. Last May, however, the National Economic and Development Authority's (NEDA) National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) ranked Bohol 52nd out of 79 provinces.

The governor said he and his department heads and chiefs of offices are gunning for a Top 10 berth in 2010 even as he recognized the support of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) under Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera, the employees, the non-government organization (NGO) partners, Official Development Assistance (ODA) funders and other groups. This unity, he pointed out, enabled Bohol to clinch the top Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) last year.

The concerted efforts, he said, led to the province's bagging the Galing Pook Award for Continuing Excellence (ACE) while the Peace and Development: Bohol Experience program got a Trailblazing Award. The same unity and cooperation also won for Bohol the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Top Tourism Destination of the Country plums – with support from the private sector-led Provincial Tourism Council (PTC) now headed by Peter Dejaresco of dyRD and The Bohol Chronicle, and the push from the Bohol Tourism Office (BTO).

In the effort to lick poverty, he instituted the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management Office (BPRMO), the Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO) and the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) that implement programs geared towards cooperativism, entrepreneurship, job generation, job placement and protecting the environment to ensure that the province's tourism come-ons are sustained. To determine what assistance a specific area needs, the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) developed the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) software that indicates, at the click of a mouse, the kind of help needed by residents like potable water, sanitary toilet, elementary or high school, livelihood, skills training, etc. At the same time, Aumentado stressed that he does not work merely for the awards, but because he is committed to reducing poverty in Bohol . If, in the process, he gets to receive awards, those are bonuses already, he said.

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