By Marlon Balmadrid
QUEZON CITY – The Senate Committee on Public
Works and Highways approved three House Bills principally authored by the late
Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd district, Bohol) during a public hearing
Wednesday.
Chief Political Affairs Officer and the solon’s
son Aris Aumentado said Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., committee chair,
presided over the discussions on airport development, road conversion and
establishment of district engineering offices in different parts of the country
and approved, among others, House Bills 386, 2437 and 6569.
HB No. 386 seeks to convert the Bohol 2nd Engineering
Sub-District Office into a regular engineering district to be known as the
Bohol 2nd Engineering District. The district covers Pres. Garcia, Ubay,
Bien Unido, Trinidad, Talibon, Getafe, Buenavista, Inabanga, Clarin, Sagbayan,
San Isidro, Dagohoy, Danao and San Miguel towns, all in the 2nd congressional
district of Bohol that are now under the sub-district office.
The district office shall still be located in
Ubay, situs of the Bohol 2nd Engineering Sub-District Office urged to be
converted into a full-fledged engineering district. It will still maintain the
present 209.931 kilometers of national roads and 1,525.40 linear meters of
bridges.
Aumentado said the conversion will result to a
more closely supervised and effective implementation of the infrastructure
program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and other
agencies that depend on it to implement their infrastructure projects.
It will hasten the pace of project
implementation, bring the government closer to the people in hinterland and
island barangays, expedite the improvement of the capital resources of the
province and its economic development particularly in the 2nd district,
and generate more employment within its jurisdiction, he added.
HB 2437 or the Ubay Airport Development Act,
intends to develop the Ubay airport built by the Americans before World War II
in barangay Camambugan. It covers 54 hectares owned by the Civil Aviation
Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), located on flat terrain ideal for an
airport, with huge potential for expansion due Camambugan’s highly agricultural
landscape,. The development of the airport has become imperative in the light
of the selection of Ubay – the biggest town of Bohol in land area, population
and income – as the tourism hub in the northeast corridor under the Bohol
Tourism Master Plan crafted by Pacific Consultants Inc. of Japan.
The Ubay airport, together with its fast
developing port, is eyed as a major support infrastructure of the
Multi-Industrial Cluster (MIC) development strategy covered by an executive
agreement between South Korea and the Philippines.
The Ubay Airport Development Project shall cover
its feasibility study, engineering design, improvement of the existing runway,
construction of a terminal building, installation of navigation and lighting
facilities and all the equipment required for domestic commercial and aviation
training flights.
Once upgraded, the airport can accommodate
domestic flights to spur tourism, commerce and industry in the northeastern
corridor of Bohol. The airport furthermore can host aviation schools and serve
as training facility to relieve Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the
Tagbilaran Airport from training flights of aviation students. The Ubay airport
is also included in the CAAP annual investment plan for development.
HB 387 seeks to convert the provincial roads in the
island town of Pres. Garcia into national roads. These are the 12.7-kilometer
Popoo-Tugas road, 6.5-km Pitogo-Aguining road and the 3.88-km Villa
Milagrosa-San Vicente-Pitogo (Poblacion) diversion road, for a total of 23.08
kms.
These roads all lead to the Pres. Garcia
municipal wharf and the strategic Popoo barge landing facility which link the
island to mainland Bohol thru Tapal Wharf in Ubay, Cebu City, Bato (Leyte) and
Maasin City (Southern Leyte), and would greatly enhance commerce and industry in
the area, as well as to the vital fishport of Aguining, the solon had said.
The municipal government of Pres. Garcia has
strongly clamored for the road nationalization so that it can be properly
maintained considering that passenger vehicles now travel regularly within the
island. More vehicles are expected with the regular trips of barges and pump
boats plying the Tapal-Popoo route. The provincial and municipal local
governments coordinated in securing the road right of way required for a
national highway.
The road network, once nationalized, is seen to
further give convenience by offering safe highways for the travelling public,
easy mobility of cargoes and essential commodities and hasten the economic
development of the island town.
Aris, who is set to file his candidacy as
replacement candidate for his father expressed elation over the bills’
committee approval.
Present during the public hearing were Sen.
Franklin Drilon, representatives from DPWH, CAAP and other House members who
filed similar bills for their respective districts.
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