REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (RDC) Chair for Central Visayas Gov. Edgar M. Chatto will be in Manila next week to attend the joint RDC dialogues for the whole Visayas Region.
All RDC Chairs for regions 6, 7 and 8 will then be joining line agency representatives and cabinet secretaries during deliberations of the Proposed Programs, Activities and Projects (PAPs) for 2016 which they would want to favorably endorse for the General Appropriations Act (GAA) scheduled for Tuesday, March 31.
Slated to join said combined dialogue with the RDCs will be the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and other national offices which would be directly involved in bringing together the 2016 GAA.
The purpose is to promote the “One Visayas, One Region, One People” policy to signify unity for the whole Visayas Region.
Aiming to strike two birds with one stone, Gov. Edgar convened the Provincial Development Council (PDC) Thursday so that proposals which still need proper endorsement for incorporation in the 2016 budget be included during Tuesday’s deliberations.
As a result, seven new endorsements were able to make it aboard the proposal folder to be personally submitted by Gov. Chatto at the deliberation table on Tuesday.
The following PAPs were deemed urgent and necessary to be included for GAA 2016: the construction of a new Hall of Justice, which was strongly endorsed by both Judges Suceso Arcamo and Leo Lison; the proposed 2016 projects for the Bohol Island State University by Dr. Elpidio Magante; the proposed use of land at Ubay stock farm to support Bohol’s power generation; construction of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) building; construction of the new Land Transportation Office (LTO) building; and a building to be called the Bohol Tourism Center for Culture and Arts; and the proposed construction of a tourism road in Loon to be called the Loon Uplifted Intertidal Zone (LUIZ).
LUIZ would be from the junction of the national highway in Bryg. Song-on stretching to barangays Tontonan, Cuasi, Tangnan, Pig-ot and Basdacu leading to the Loon Coastal Geomorphic Conservation Park with an estimated cost of P150M from the Department of Tourism (DOT).
As formerly, favorably and unanimously endorsed during previous meetings of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC), a Technical Working Group (TWG) is currently working on pushing for a Children’s Home and Rehabilitation Center, a separate structure albeit a part of the Hall of Justice project.
Moreover, since it was noticed that the Ubay stock farm has a total land area of 50 hectares, it was favorably backed-up that an agricultural training for high school students be set up, to be funded by the Department of Education (DepEd), with collaboration from both Education Sec. Armin Luistro and Department of Agriculture (DA) Sec. Proceso Alcala.
Facing regional and national leaderships this Tuesday and armed with all these people-centered projects for Bohol, Gov. Chatto sees no reason that any item from the Bohol list be voted out due to lack of merit. (JLV/PGBh/EDCom)
