LIBACAO: at the forefront of development

(Inaugural address of Mayor Charito I. Navarosa during the oath-taking ceremony of municipal officials held on June 30, 2007 at Libacao, Aklan)

To our distinguished guests of honor and inducting officers, the Honorable Joeben T. Miraflores, the dynamic Congressman of the Lone District of Aklan and Honorable Carlito S. Marquez, the most energetic and enterprising Governor of the Province of Aklan, our special guest for today, my close friend the incoming Mayor of the municipality of Banga, Mayor Antonio “Antong” Maming, our special friends from Manila who are helping us out in our tourism and agriculture programs, Mrs. Rica Cortes-Rentzing and Mr. Mandy Jimenez and his better-half, our Honorable Vice Mayor Ramon Zapata and the newly elected and re-elected members of the Sangguniang Bayan, our beloved Barangay Captains and other barangay officials, teachers and school officials, other guests, “mga pinalangga kong mga kasimanwa”, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

First of all, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to all of you for joining us today, in this very important occasion, the inauguration of our duly elected municipal officials who will serve this town in the next three years.

Let me also express my sincerest thanks and grateful appreciation to all of you for that full support and overwhelming votes you had given us during the last elections. At least the result of that election was a clear manifestation that the big majority of our people are fully supportive of our development program and advocacy for good governance.

As far as I am concerned, this is supposedly my third time to be sworn in into office as your humble Municipal Mayor. First in 2001 when I fortunately won with only a 3-vote margin, second in 2004 with 846 and this time, with an overwhelming 7,834, the biggest so far in Aklan in this election and said to be unprecedented in the political history of Libacao.

I made special mention of the increasing votes that I have obtained through these years purposely to emphasize the strong mandate that you had given me which simply mean - high approval rating on the many things that we had done for the past six years.

With this fresh mandate and high approval rating hence, we are again tasked to pursue what we had started. However, this time with renewed vigor and added determination so as to achieve at the earliest possible time the goals and objectives that we had set upon ourselves - the development and progress of our beloved town of Libacao

In other words, we will be at all times vigilant in maintaining the peace and order that we had already achieved. We will continue on improving and to construct more farm-to-market roads. To pursue our program in agriculture, by expanding our abaca industry and by introducing high value crops, fruits, vegetables and cut flowers, We will also continue to promote our town Libacao as another tourist destination in Aklan, by constructing the needed access roads and tourism facilities,

The most important project that we are very bullish about is the early implementation of the proposed Aklan Hydro Electric Power Project of the California Energy International whose top management, technical people and consultants are all working hard fast-tracking the completion of the feasibility study and engineering design with the hope to begin actual project construction before the end of year 2007.

Another prospect for this year is the possible sourcing out by the Metro Iloilo Water District from Libacao of potable water for its service area, which includes the City of Iloilo and the ten other neighboring towns. Both project proponents and prospective investors are very much interested about this project because Iloilo today is experiencing a serious water shortage whose demand for more water is increasing due to the expected tourism and economic boom brought about by the opening of the new Iloilo International Airport.

These two major economic projects side by side with our tourism and agriculture programs had put Libacao at the forefront of economic development in the province and in the region. A good reason enough for all of us Libacaonons to be hopeful and optimistic because it is now very clear that we are facing a very bright future that promises a better life for all of us, for our children and our children’s children.

These upcoming economic prospects in our town brought about by the entry of foreign and local private investments will no doubt generate multilateral employment opportunities for our people and substantial revenue for our LGU. Subsequently, this will result in increase in money circulation, the improvement of the local economy and would enable all types of business in the locality to grow and prosper. All these and more will pave the way for our people to so many possibilities of earning a living for themselves and their families.

Should that time come when our LGU shall have sufficient funds out of the revenues that may be derived from these big private investments, with the concurrence of our Sangguniang Bayan, I propose the granting of free high school education in the four high schools in the municipality, the Libacao National Vocational High School, Guadalupe National High School, Loctuga National High School and the Ortega Integrated School and free college education in the Libacao College of Science and Technology. The granting of scholarship grants in prestigious colleges and universities to all high school valedictorians and salutatorians, free hospitalization in the Libacao Community Hospital and medical allowance to all our senior citizens. The giving of extra monthly allowance to all municipal employees, policemen, public school teachers, college instructors, day care workers, barangay officials and barangay tanods. Others whom I failed to mention but who may be qualified to receive this benefit will also be considered later on.

These economic opportunities and benefits that are in store for Libacao are the compelling reason why I left the opposition to join the administration party of Tibyog Akean. A decision that was hard for me to do because I have to turn my back to my colleagues in the opposition, people whom I am already very comfortable with and who had been on my side during hard times. That would also mean setting aside my personal pride and dismissing party loyalty. But the time had come when I have no other recourse but to make a personal sacrifice for the greater good of our people. This is because I wanted Libacao to get its fair share of provincial and national funding for development and not be deprived of the economic opportunities that are coming its way. I am very glad that you had joined me, especially our local leaders in this shift of party affiliation without hesitation, for the sake of our beloved town - Libacao

And true enough, our joining the Tibyog Akean is now giving us good results. As Congressman Miraflores here and Governor Marquez are both committed to support us and are now fully supporting us in all of our development endeavors.

So in order to sustain the momentum of our initial success and economic growth, I would like to take this opportunity to ask our municipal officials, our municipal employees and all government employees for that matter, our barangays officials and all sectors of our society to join me in this herculean task of building a much better community for our people. To set aside our personal pride and political differences in order to be one and united in purpose and direction. This I ask because, this is the only way where we could hasten the attainment of our ultimate goal – the development and progress of our beloved town Libacao.

To all our detractors and to those who still refused to believe in what we are doing, please refrain yourselves from misleading our people by way of disseminating wrong information and baseless speculations. Because in doing so you are disrupting our work and confusing our people. After all, what we are doing is not only for ourselves but for all of us Libacaonons.

So, again thank you very much to all of you and good day.