‘Bohol needs to tap own power sources’


Second district’s development blueprint now in the offing along with the barangay masterplanning focuses on self-sufficiency in supply of power, water and food.

Rep. Erico Aumentado aims to equip the second district and even the entire province with enough facilities to brace against power supply shortage expected ten years from now as Cebu would be utilizing all the power supply they now produce since their consumption also increases and could no longer share power supply to Bohol.

He said Bohol is already included in the Central Visayas grid which priority are the areas that lack power supply.

Moreover, the inevitable development in Bohol would demand more supply of electricity aside from the fact that there are still some sub-villages in the province that have no power supply yet.

On this, Aumentado said it is now high time to develop local facilities to produce electricity, food, and establish waterworks systems to become independent from sources outside the province.

One of the solutions that the congressman proposed is the Bohol NorthEast Basin Multi-Purpose Dam eyed in barangay Concepcion, Danao which can produce 10-megawatt hydro-power supply and irrigate about 19,000 hectares of ricelands–1,353.95 hectares in Danao, 3,520.92 hectares in San Miguel, 5,945.59 hectares in Trinidad, 1,770.50 hectares in Dagohoy,  1,896.12 hectares in Bien Unido, and 4,530.20 hectares in Ubay.

Downstream of the dam, Aumentado said an Ayala-led firm and Sta. Clara Corp. will develop another project that can produce 7.2-8.2 megawatts of power supply.

Aumentado said he will further discuss irrigation and hydro-power projects this Tuesday in a meeting in Manila with Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras and NIA Administrator Tony Nangel, the country representative of KOICA, Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan-who chairs the NEDA Investments Coordinating Committee Technical Board, and representatives of Sun West Corporation.

Irrigation and hydro-power projects would be significant in the development plan that would be drafted by the barangays with the help of NEDA, Department of Energy Regional Director Antonio Labios, PPA Manager Manuel Boholano, Agricultural Promotions Center Manager Eugene Cahiles, and local officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), PENRO Nestor Canda and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

“PPA Manager Boholano can help because there are many islands in second district that need fish ports and PPA has lower estimate of project cost than the DPWH. At least 75 barangays in the hinterland areas will also be made pilot barangays for the Botika sa Barangay project.

Aumentado gathered the mayors and municipal planning and development coordinators of second district towns last Friday at the Eco-tourism Business Center of Buenavista to finalize the work and financial plan of the Integrated Barangay Development Planning Project with the steering committee and the technical working group.

Rustica Mascariñas of DILG-7 facilitated the meeting, while Maria Teresa Alambra of NEDA-7 took charge of the orientation workshop on sub-district area planning.

Buenavista Mayor Ronald Lowell Tirol, who hosted the steering committee meeting and the orientation workshop on the sub-district area planning in the afternoon, expressed enthusiasm on the barangay-based development.

He initially discussed partnership with Mayors Thomas Louis Gonzaga of Danao, Germinio Relampagos of Dagohoy, Claudio Bonior of San Miguel, and Jacinto Narraga of San Isidro. Vice-Mayor Charito Lao represented Sagbayan. The ABC federated presidents of Clarin, Inabanga and Talibon represented their areas; while Inabanga Mayor Jose Jono Jumamoy, Talibon Mayor Restituto Auxtero, and CPG Mayor Tesalonica Boyboy were represented by their municipal planning and development coordinators.

The congressman coordinated with different government agencies that can help second district barangays draft the Integrated Barangay Development Planning Project that will serve as guide in future fund allocation from his PDAF.

He allocated a total of P1.100 million from his PDAF for the project deposited as trust fund with Land Bank of the Philippines under a project account of National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)-7 for the Integrated Barangay Development Planning Project.

About P100,000 of the budget went to the preparatory activities; while P80,000 goes to barangay profiling; P630,450 for preparation of sub-district area plans and framework for Integrated Barangay Development; P178,870 for the preparation of Investment Program; and P110,680 for activities towards the adoption of the Bohol 2nd District Integrated Barangay Development Plan.

NEDA-7 OIC Assistant Regional Director Madelyn Escandor said that in the timetable, they target to conduct a consultation on the draft of the development plan in the middle of July this year, then finalize it in the last two weeks of July and be able to present it and have it adopted by the Local Development Councils and concerned Sangguniang Bayans (SBs) by August this year.

Later, the SBs need to pass their respective municipal ordinances approving the Integrated Development Plan.

The barangays in second district have been clustered based on geographic proximity (contiguous), shared natural and agricultural resources, natural boundary-with consideration on islands or islets, and future role in the district or area.

The barangay clustering has also been patterned after the clustering of towns in Bohol Integrated Area Development to which Aumentado attributed the strategic implementation of circumferential road, irrigation projects and the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Project during his past stints as congressman and later as governor.

“In the past, second district lagged behind in development. BIAD masterplanning set the direction, so the second district later managed to catch up with first and third district, and even went ahead in the road concreting program. That’s why. We have the Integrated Barangay Development Planning Project (IBDPP) now as a sequel of BIADP, to continue the pace of development, but we now focus on the barangays,” Aumentado said.

He assured that aside from his PDAF, the allocations he had inserted in the General Appropriations Act will be set aside for the masterplan and that Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding institutions like China, World Bank, KOICA and other international funding institutions will also be available for livelihood projects.

For the IBDPP, NEDA-7 Regional Director Efren Carreon explained that barangays and municipalities are clustered for the purpose of planning and the identification of projects.

“Areas close to each other as in geographic proximity are usually the ones sharing resources. Areas that share natural and agricultural resources should co-manage these resources. Co-managing the resources is facilitated if these areas are grouped together,” Carreon cited.

He further explained that sub-district area clustering will facilitate planning and identification of activities and projects, promotes sharing of resources for the provision of certain basic services, economies of scale from the pooling of resources and stronger lobbying power for funds for proposed integrated projects.

“Economies of scale is related to sharing of resources. It will be cheaper to operate a facility if there is greater demand since the cost of operation will be shared by many people,” according to Carreon.

It was agreed during last Friday’s meeting to divide second district into four sub-district areas (SDA)-the first group comprises of Clarin, Inabanga, Buenavista, and Jetafe; while the second SDA comprises of Talibon, Bien Unido, and Trinidad. SDA 3 includes San Isidro, Sagbayan, Danao, Dagohoy, and San Miguel; and SDA 4 covers Ubay and Pres. Carlos P. Garcia.

Aumentado said the masterplanning will also consider the need for additional school buildings, in the light of the implementation of K+12 program of DepEd, wherein barangays with common interests can be clustered for the establishment of integrated high schools.

He also advised barangay officials to group among themselves based on geographical proximity for the Botika sa Barangay program that can be made part of the outreach program of hospitals, since it is hard to secure one pharmacist per town.

Aumentado said areas with spring can be tapped as source of water, while he earlier allocated P7 million from his PDAF as aid for the establishment of waterworks systems in “waterless barangays”, in addition to the P500,000 he facilitated for the water system projects of 11 towns in second district.

The congressman is also working now to bring power supply to all the remaining sub-villages without electricity yet.

In fact, Aumentado is set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the National Electrification Administration and Boheco-2 for a multi-million-peso power supply distribution project.

For the project, he will allocate P16 million, while NEA will set aside P30 million of its P.18-billion budget this year, and Boheco-2 will also provide P2 million.

 


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