by AKLAN GOV. CARLITO S. MARQUEZ
May we thank the Honorable Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Vice Gov. Gabrielle V. Calizo-Quimpo, for this opportunity to present our administration’s programs and priority thrusts or the three years of our new term and, thereby, apprise the honorable body of the legislative support that we will need.
As I have said, declared, time and again, in my state of the province addresses and other pronouncements, I had never lacked the support of the Sangguniang Panla-lawigan. The resolutions and ordinances that I had requested may have passed the strictest scrutiny, as they should rightfully be. They may have gone thru the most heated debates, as they should appropriately be. But always, over and above all considerations, the best interest of the province always came out the winner.
For this, I thank our Sangguniang Panlalawigan, during my first and second terms. And I see no reason why I cannot thank, in advance, the new members of this honorable body who shall be sitting in sessions to be held from this year to 2013.
This morning, I am very touched by the honor of being fetched from the governor’s office and escorted all the way to this session hall by Hon. Jose Enrique Miraflores, Hon. Phoebe Clarice Cabagnot, Hon. Rodson Mayor, and Hon. Daisy Briones. I saw a symbolism in the composition of the group. Equal representation, the young and the old, the women and the men, the neophytes and the veterans, and maybe, the idealists and the pragmatists.
On June 15, 2010, our Provincial Development Investment Program or PDIP, together with those of seven other provinces, the first ones to complete said document, was presented by our provincial planning and development office for review by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). With a few minor corrections, our PDIP shall soon be finalized.
Let me thank our PPDO for another accomplishment and let me acknowledge the labor of love by former senior board member Selwyn Ibarreta, who had religiously worked with the provincial technical working group, the PDIP committee, tasked to formulate the document.
As declared in my foreword the PDIP is "another vital document that formalizes and ranks programs, projects, and activities identified in our provincial development and physical framework plan (PDPFP) and matches the prioritized project list with the investment capacity of the province in an interactive manner" and that "it will enable us to synchronize our priorities with national and regional plans."
May I, therefore, respectfully submit to the honorable body excerpts for our PDIP particularly the enumeration of our proposed plans and programs for the three-year period of my incumbency from 2010 – 2013.
These programs which duration ranges from three to six years and shall be completed in 2013, had been categorized by sectors, namely a. Infrastructure, b. Economic, c. Social, d. Environmental Manage-ment, and e. Local administration and management.
There are a total of 112 identified programs under these five sectors. By policy of integration, they are all interrelated and mutually supportive.
For instance, our concrete artificial reef projects at various barangays are not only a component of Fishery Resource Enhancement Program but are wave breakers under our shoreline protection efforts and a poverty alleviation strategy as more catch means more income for our fisherfolk, and better nutrition and health. In other words, it is an infrastructure (sector), that has social (sector), environmental (sector), and economic (sector) benefits.
Thru the maze of these interconnected programs, let me cite a few of our pet projects.
In agriculture, we have our hybridization program under which we propose to expand the present 1,000 hectares to 1,500 in 2011, 2,000 in 2012, and 2,500 hectares in 2013. Hybrid rice production of 180 to 200 cavans per hectare against inbred rice’s only 80 to 100 should not be the only attraction for our rice farmers to shift to hybrid. We have this P10,000 per hectare assistance payable under easy terms.
With the success of our first LAMBAKLAD project located at Baybay, Makato we propose more, initially at Mabilo, New Washington.
The Baybay Lambaklad in less than two months of operation had a net income of P358,986.88. And under a sharing scheme, the provincial government’s 45 percent was P161,544; fisherfolks manning the lambaklad for its 40 percent earned P143,594; the Makato fisherfolks multi-purpose cooperative with 5 percent had P17,949.
We also propose to expand our high-value crops-abaca, corn, mango production programs, even as we continue to pursue the modernization of agriculture with the integrated pest management, modified rapid composting, palayaman kabuhayan, and other agricultural programs.
You will note the seemingly endless construc-tion activities going on at the provincial capitol compound. Repair and renovation of old buildings and the construction of a new one. Part of this building program shall be the construction of what we call the legislative building. The least we can do for our Sangguniang Panlalawigan is the provision of roomier home to accommodate individual offices for our SP members.
In tourism, we propose the repair and rehabilitation of the Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Tourism and Training Center, the improvement of the Caticlan and Cagban Jetty Ports, the Marina project under which we will undertake the reclamation of the Caticlan foreshore, and many other programs designed to maximize benefits from our tourism industry whose revenues can provide us the means to fight poverty.
But the bottomline underpinning all these wide-ranging, encompassing programs is cheap, reliable, and steady power supply. Electricity.
I must thank the honorable body for their recent endorsement of the biomass plant project of ASEA One Power Corporation.
This is in line with Republic Act 9513, An Act Promoting the Development, Utilization, and Commercialization of Renewable Energy Resources. Its declared policies are to accelerate the exploration and development of renewable resources such as, but not limited to, biomass, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and ocean energy sources, including hybrids systems to achieve energy self-reliance through the adaptation of sustainable energy development strategies to reduce he country’s dependence on fossil fuels and thereby minimize the country’s exposure to price fluctuations in the international market, the effects of which spiral down to almost all sectors of the economy; to increase the utilization of renewable energy by institutionalizing the development of national and local capabilities in the use of renewable energy systems, and promoting its efficient and cost-effective commercial application by providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives; to encourage the development and utilization of renewable energy resources as tools to effectively prevent or reduce harmful emissions and thereby balance the goals of economic growth and development with the protection of health and the environment; and establish the necessary infrastructure and mechanism to carry out the mandates specified in this act and other existing laws.
At stake here are not only our dreams of economic prosperity for Aklan but the very survival of mankind. Climate change, the threats of global warming and extreme weathers are real. Another typhoon Frank and the economic gains that we have made in so many years will come to naught. We will be back to square one. Zero. And this holds true with the rest of the country and the world.
I propose, therefore, that we revisit our investment and incentives code and focus on, prioritize, power generation through renewable energy resources as specified by Republic Act 9513. Section 294 of the local government code provides the incentive of 80 percent of earnings derived from the development of such renewable energy resources being applied solely to lower the cost of electricity in the local government unit where such plant or facility is located.
It is reassuring to note that, already, projects using our abundant renewable energy resources are at various stages of implementation.
In Banga, we have Asea One Power’s 12 MW Biomass Plant; in Libacao, Sunwest’s Mini Hydro-power plants that can generate 20 MW; in Madalag, Oriental Energy’s 18 MW hydropower facility; and in Nabas, the 18 MW wind power projects.
We owe it to ourselves to provide full support and commitment to these projects that can provide us cheap and reliable energy.
And in line with this power generation objective is the massive planting of trees which not only insure the preservation of our watersheds but also absorb carbon dioxide emissions.
These are the development programs for which the executive department may need legislative support.
Again, may I thank the honorable body for their cooperation? I know for certain that though we may differ in our priorities, vary in our development strategies, disagree in our political beliefs, but always, the welfare of Aklan and the Aklanons will be over and above this consideration.
Thank you. /MP
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