Secretary to the Cabinet Leoncio Evasco Jr. has endorsed Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of Bohol’s 2ndDistrict as adopted partner of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Evasco’s endorsement came during last night’s meeting of the Bohol United Opposition (BUO) mayors with Aumentado and Vice Gov. Dionisio Balite at the Soledad Suites in Tagbilaran City.
The endorsement as a partner in development comes with the package of Aumentado’s mega and even smaller projects.
Top in Aumentado’s agenda are the development of the multi-faceted Bohol Northeast Basin that will provide irrigation for another 19,000 hectares of rice lands, power, potable water, flood control and tourism, as well as the electrification of the islands and islets of the 2nd District.
BUO elected Vice Gov. Balite as the group’s chairman with Rep. Aumentado as vice chair.
The meeting was called by former Loay Mayor May Imboy who failed in her gubernatorial attempt during the May 9 elections. Among the town mayors who attended were Loboc Mayor Helen Alaba, Pilar Mayor Necitas Cubrado, Gacia Hernandez Mayor Tita Galietes, Sevilla Mayor Juliet Dano, San Isidro Mayor Jacinto Naraga, Ubay Mayor CostanReyes, Carmen Mayor Jun Toribio, Mabini Mayor Esther Tabigue, Sierra Bullones Mayor Simplicio Maestrado Jr., Dimiao Mayor Danilo Guivencan and Pres Garcia Mayor Eping Estabillo.
Others present during the meeting were Board Member Victor Balite, former Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan and Boy Pernia of office of Rep. Aumentado.
The solon’s well-travelled namesake father and immediate congressional predecessor Erico Boyles Aumentado had brought to Leyte and Bohol the submarine cable technology to bring geothermal power from Tongonan in Leyte.
From Leyte, the submarine cable goes up to dry land again in Tugas Point in President Carlos P. Garcia town and proceeds to mainland Bohol through overhead cables.
This provides at least 100 megawatts of power but Aumentado and his father have been exploring the generation of more local power. This is to avoid inconvenience like when the Leyte side is down due to the toppling of its towers by super typhoon Yolanda, or when it undergoes preventive maintenance servicing.
To note, after Yolanda on November 7, 2013, Bohol endured power outage up until a little before Christmas that year. Power from Cebu had been routed to Leyte also through submarine cables and on to Bohol through the existing underwater line.
With Evasco’s endorsement, Aumentado, Balite and Bohol’s opposition vowed to practice good and clean governance in their respective turfs.
Evasco expressed elation over the officials’ pledge and said he will definitely report this to the President.
The secretary admits that President Duterte has detractors, especially those in the illegal drugs trade who want to discredit and paint a bloodthirsty picture of him.
But, Evasco said, no one can put a good man down.