Aumentado to focus on agriculture, food security in next 3 years

Bohol Governor Erico Aris Aumentado delivers his Inaugural Address on Monday, June 30, to mark the start of his second term in office. | Grabbed from the live video of the Bohol Provincial Government

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Bohol Governor Erico Aris Aumentado wanted to focus on agriculture and food security during his second term in office.

In doing so, Aumentado said his administration will not only make sure that Bol-anons will not go hungry, but also provide them with employment opportunities.

“We will intensify building up livelihoods, helping communities become more self-reliant, resilient, and attracting more investments that create real, lasting value,” Aumentado said in his Inaugural Address that he delivered on Monday, June 30, at the Bohol Cultural Center.

Moreover, he wanted to ensure collaboration with the private sector and encourage unity among the different localities in their province.

Economic enterprise

Aumentado said that there two general ways of expanding the local economy.

First, is by increasing output through investment and the growth of economic enterprises, which he believes is the best way to increase employment opportunities.

Second, there is a need to increase consumption expenditures or enable households to spend more on goods and services for their own use like food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and healthcare.

In order to achieve these, he plans to plans to implement the following measures:

• Enhance food production and aquaculture.
• Expand the existing rice buy-back program to make it more inclusive, and institutionalize it through a provincial ordinance.
• Boost BPO growth.
• Advance the Metro Bohol Vision by uniting Tagbilaran City and its neighboring localities through a shared vision of sustainable urban development.
• Promote responsible property development to attract more investors to build in Bohol while ensuring development remains sustainable—protecting the province’s natural beauty and preserving its lush, untouched landscapes.
• Maximize the impact of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
• Spread Bohol’s brand as a geopark and regenerative island.
• Continue to build upon the success of my predecessors and complete the good projects which were started.

In the long term, “we envision a Bohol that can feed its own people whatever the climate may be.”

Aumentado’s new EOs

On the first day of his second term in office, Aumentado said that he will be issuing three Executive Orders (EOs):

• Creating an Executive Planning Committee to review the existing agricultural plans and programs and how these can be overhauled to achieve meaningful and measurable improvement in the lives of the farmers and fisherfolk.
• Creating a Local Organizing Committee to prepare Bohol as we bid to host the CVRAA in 2028.
• Directing the Provincial Treasurer’s Office in coordination with Bohol Water Utilities to implement the court order to return the overpaid money collected by the province between the years 1997-2000.

“We need to trust in our abilities without becoming over confident,” the Governor said.

Mounting threats

Aumentado said Bohol is currently facing “mounting threats—from climate change, pollution, and reckless development, to the erosion of moral values and community ties brought about by progress.”

“Our natural resources and wildlife, on land and sea, are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation driven by greed. Global conflicts are shaking economies, and their impact will soon reach us. Even political turmoil at the national level sends shockwaves to the countryside.”

With all these, Aumentado said there is a need to always be prepared.

“We must strengthen what we have built so we can endure whatever lies ahead. And we must all do it together,” he said.

But he won’t be able to do all these on his own.

“Stay with me. I have a choice. You have a choice. Together let us make Bohol stronger. So when the storm comes—and it will—we will not falter. Inig abot sa bagyo, dili kita malisang. We will be ready,” he added.