Friday, July 18, 2008 Guv to highlight 4-month achievements By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
GOVERNOR Isidro Zayco is set to deliver his State of the Province Address (Sopa) either by the end of July or first week of August.
He said he will present in his Sopa the four-month-old achievements of his administration after assuming the post with the demise of Gov. Joseph Marañon last March 16.
"I have to present to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) my accomplishments in just four months as well the things I need and I want to accomplish in the two years remaining time of my governorship,' Zayco said.
He said he will also present his vision with focus on food production, aimed at increasing the supply of food and other agricultural products in Negros.
Zayco also vowed to continue and maintain Marañon's health care programs as well as tourism and investment promotions as these two main programs already have stable foundations.
Before delivering his Sopa, the governor said he will attend President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 28 as soon as he receives the formal invitation either from Malacañang or Congress.
He expects that Arroyo will highlight in her Sona all the things she accomplished amid turbulent times.
Power
As to the power situation in Negros, Zayco said he is just waiting for the result of the six-month research and study by Alto Power Corporation on the proposed establishment of a hydro power plant at the Bago City River. He is also set to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) either today or tomorrow.
"After six months, we will know the update if the hydro power plant is viable or not," he said, adding as to the MOA with EDC: "I was already assured by the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) that I have no liabilities even if I sign the MOA as well as the executive order on the composition of an oversight committee that will monitor EDC's activities at the buffer zone of Mt. Kanlaon soon."
Schistosomiasis
As to the ongoing research and study on the dreaded disease called schistosomiasis in Calatrava town, Zayco said: "I hope that the study as well as the survey will later result to the imposition of preventive measures on how to contain the epidemic of such rare bacterial disease in the remote villages in town, victimizing poor people, especially the farmers."
At present, two Japanese, one British and four Filipino researchers are in Calatrava doing an intensive study and research on reports of schistosomiasis.
Negros has 41 cases of schistosomiasis as of last year, 39 of them were from Barangay Marcelo in Calatrava while the two others were from Bago City.
Hunger strike
Zayco, meanwhile, advised hunger strikers in Cadiz City, who were earlier accused as illegal loggers, to simply follow the law and answer the charges in court.
Lying in the streets and fasting are not the solution to the problems of the 13 men who were reportedly arrested in the act of cutting and slicing lauan trees at the North Negros Forest Reserve (NNFR) in the area of Barangay Andres Bonifacio in Cadiz two weeks ago.
The 13 alleged suspects were also reported to be members of the Kilusang Mambubukid ng Pilipinas, a militant group in Negros.
"If they feel that they're not guilty of the charges, then they have to face the case in court rather than staging a hunger strike in the streets," the governor stressed.
