MORE INFRA FOR BUENAVISTA. Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado (right) shares the elation of Buenavista Mayor Dave Duallo (left) over the local projects given to the said town. The solon says development of a place comes in only when the basic infrastructure is in place, Photos: Aris Aumentado’s Facebook Page.
Buenavista infra paves way to town’s dev’t
By JUNE S. BLANCO
THE inauguration of local infrastructure projects in Buenavista indicates that the town is moving into the right direction in terms of development.
The mantra of Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of Bohol’s 2nd District has always been: Development and progress can only come in when basic infrastructure are in place.
This mantra is a “hand-me-down” from his namesake father and immediate congressional predecessor, former governor and Rep. Erico Boyles Aumentado – architect of the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Project (LBIP) Stages 1 and 2, Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project (BCRIP) Phases 1 and 2, and the Bohol Irrigation Project (BHIP 1 and 2) that he fondly referred to as his “mega projects”.
Up until the present, no other permanent power source of the same magnitude has been added to locally produced energy.
Compared to the 100 megawatts sourced from the Tongonan Geothermal Plant in Leyte and brought to Bohol by submarine cables, the Ewon Mini-hydroelectric Plant, also completed during the incumbency of then Gov. Aumentado, the mini hydroelectric plants in Hanopol, Balilihan and Tontonan in Loboc are “mere fireflies”, in providing power to Bohol’s total energy demand.
After LBIP, all irrigation projects developed so far have smaller reservoirs with small coverage areas.
No other concrete-paved road, even if these now crisscross the province, can match the magnitude of BCRIP.
The younger Aumentado, who grew up seeing the flurry of his father’s department heads and their respective staff coordinating with national government agencies to realize the mega projects, is now following in the footsteps of the latter, knowing fully well that he has such big shoes to fill.
His experience as his father’s congressional chief of staff soon paid off as he picked up and continued where his father left off because of his untimely passing.
Such tasks included the funding and preparation of the 2nd District Master Plan which Duallo apparently has taken to heart.
The projects Aumentado and Duallo led in inauguration include the road concreting at Cantores, P6.331 million; installation of solar streetlights, P3 million; construction of Early Childhood Development Center, P2.655 million; and the construction of school toilets in Cangawa, Cantores, Bato and Asinan, P500 million.
He said these infrastructure will make Buenavista attractive to investors especially in tourism and agriculture, and expects businesses to mushroom as soon as the implementation of the “new normal” protocols is in place.