Former Panglao mayor Dr. Doloreich Dumaluan on Friday expressed his opposition to the renaming of the Panglao Island Circumferential Road to Anos Fonacier Highway.

Dumaluan instead proposed that the thoroughfare be named Panglao-Dauis Highway or to just retain the current name of the circumferential road.

The ex-mayor’s suggestion stemmed from the Provincial Board’s (PB) proposal to name the highway in honor of Fonacier after his death last year, as the hotelier had been deemed the “Father of Bohol Tourism.”

However, Dumaluan said that the circumferential road should instead be named in honor of residents in Panglao and Dauis as he pointed out that Fonacier was not a native Boholano.

Fonacier was also not the first hotel owner in Panglao as it was one Dado Hora who owned the first resort in the town, added Dumulan who did not name the establishment.

The Panglao Island Circumferential Road was turned into a national road through a legislation passed by Governor Edgar Chatto when he was still a congressman.

Chatto and the PB have been extending support for Cong. Rene Relampagos’ proposal to name the national road after the late Fonacier.

Relampagos has passed House Bill No. 4053 in Congress which would rename the thoroughfare to Panglao-Island-Anos Fonacier Circumferential Road.

Fonacier, who was 90 when he passed away in September, established the Bohol Beach Club in 1984, prior to Bohol’s rise as one of the top tourist destinations in the country.

He was an Ilocos native but became an adopted son of Bohol as he helped plan out the province’s tourism industry.

Chatto, following the hotelier’s death, said that Boholanos should be thankful for Fonacier’s contributions as he guided officials in crafting policies and programs that made Bohol tourism what it is today. (R. Tutas)