by AMBROSIO R. VILLORENTE
The State of the Province Address (SOPA) of Aklan provincial governor Carlito S. Marquez delivered on Jan. 29, 2009 during the 4th Regular Session of Aklan Sangguniang Panlalawigan consisted of 39 pages, computerized, double space on a long bond paper, some adlib and a beautiful quotation on governance from a renowned writer not included.
Gov. Marquez spent one hour and 35 minutes to deliver his SOPA, punctuated by great determination, "We will succeed." Every inch of the air conditioned Session Hall in the Capitol Bldg. in Kalibo was occupied by those who came to witness the SOPA. They are the Aklan provincial and municipal officials Aklan tri-media, members, heads of national and provincial government offices and guests who applauded Gov. Marquez 73 times while delivering his SOPA.
In his report, Marquez compared his governance and accomplishments in 2007 against 2008 which all showed favorable increases despite the devastation Aklan experienced on June 21, 2008 caused by Ty-phoon Frank.
Marquez spoke highly of the performances of his economic enterprises such as the Caticlan Jetty Port which earned P77.3 million in 2008 compared to P41.4 million in 2007.
Marquez is highly pleased with the P5 million income realized from sand and gravel, small scale mining and other quarry materials. The real property tax collected is P137 million which included the condonation. It is 81 percent over the 2007 collection.
In agriculture, Marquez cited the progresses made in rice production, high value commercial crops like corn, mango, abaca, and vegetables. Even if Aklan’s agriculture was greatly damaged on June 21, 2008, "Aklan still produces more rice than it consumes", he stressed. Marquez cited some mitigation measures to minimize global warming and climate change such as artificial reef and production of chemical fertilizer replacement.
In provincial infras-tructure, Marquez was so empathic in congratulating his provincial engineer, Engr. Victory Fernandez who is elected president of the Association of Provincial Engineers of the Philippines. PEO is cited for what it did from "simple repair, main-tenance, and rehabilitation, to major constructions", which totaled P92.3 million dis-tributed in 17 municipalities.
Some P194 worth of projects consisting of roads and bridges, flood control, school houses, were funded and constructed with the assistance of Cong. Florencio T. Miraflores.
Gov. Marquez is giving priority to the people’s good health. He cited several improvements made in the hospital in Kalibo and hospitals located in other towns of Aklan. He wished DRSTMH to be Aklan’s premier client-centered health provider providing quality and accessible health care services. Today, it has 398 hospital officials and employees with another 187 job order employees or a total of 585 medical health workers.
Marquez cited the accomplishments in tourism industry such as in transportation and acco-mmodation. "Our tourism receipts in 2008 reached P12.7 billion from both local and foreign tourists", Marquez pointed out. He forecast one million tourists arrivals in Aklan in 2010.
In sports, he cited the progress Aklan achieved in sports. He named some outstanding athletes who garnered awards in various competitions. Earlier, Marquez revealed the Aklan Sports Center reha-bilitation in Caeangcang, Makato will start anytime this year. Some P13 million fund is included in this 2009 provincial budget.
Marquez also reported on the several kinds of assistance provided the victims of typhoon Frank which came from the province and external sources.
Before he ended his report, Marquez forecast a bright future for Aklan in the field of tourism and agriculture. He ended his report with: "that the ultimate dream of prosperity for all, we will overcome, we will succeed. Aklan province will be a billionaire". /MP
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