COL. ALLAN LUGA & THE BOHOL PROVINCE

It was more than 40 years ago when this man joined Bohol's political arena - first as a Provincial Board Member, then a Mayor. . . . the rest is history. It was almost two decades ago when we first met this person - full of vision not only for his beloved Municipality of Ubay, but to his province per se, the Province of Bohol. Unlike today, it took us roughly 8 hours boat ride then to reach Ubay from the port of Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu where we have to take a ferry and spent a night at sea to reach Ubay at the break of dawn. The project we have to assess then was a Small Water Impounding Project in the mountains of Ubay to tap the running water from Pilar, downstream to Ubay for the agricultural water needs of the town.

It has been an honor to have met for the first time face to face a man who was full of vision and optimism to develop Ubay and Bohol per se 's water resources, agriculture and infrastructure. potential. 20 years ago this man have already been talking about Ubay/Bohol water, Ubay Rice, Livestock, Fruit Trees, etc., etc. - all about Ubay and Bohol's development. One of the problem then to sustain the water potential of the SWIM project in Ubay is how to preserve its watershed areas. We were dispatched from the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Agriculture in Manila to personally assess the validity of a MOA between the Municipality of Ubay, the Bureau of Soils and Water Resources (BSWM) and the Department of Agriculture. The Municipality of Ubay was very hospitable to recommend to the Office of the President and its Sanggunian Bayan to provide funding for a project to preserve the watershed area surrounding the SWIM project in Ubay when informed that one of the problem was actually the funding source. It was, in fact, the Municipality of Ubay, which initiated the project to fence and rehabilitate the Waterhsed area of the SWIM Project in Ubay.

It was our first encounter of the man who, for almost two decades thereafter, our path crosses, again and again, for the development of Bohol from his recommended action to grant amnesty to NPA Commanders, among others - "Boy Simbajon" and his followers - to propel peace and development in his province, to mechanize the land development of NIA's Bohol Irrigation Project Stage I 's irrigated areas for its speedy turn over, his strong representation and support at the NEDA INFRA Committee for the funding requirement of NIA's Bohol Irrigation Project Stage II, where we sit side by side to defend the Project before the NEDA Board and the speedy accomplishment of the Bohol Circumferential Road Project. It was during the administration of then President Fidel V. Ramos with Gen. Orlando Soriano as the Administrator of the National Irrigation Administration that the Bohol Irrigation Project Stage I was finally finished in less than two years after decades of project delays and cost overrun.

Today, Bohol is one of the most prosperous province in Western Visayas, the breadbasket of the weastern part of Visayas, a major toursit destination where peace and prosperity reigns. The province and the Boholonas, 'to a certain extent', owes this development to the man, who we consider as the modern time "FATHER OF BOHOL's GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT". Under his leadership, Bohol stood firm with the ideals of its forefather Dagohoy, as a proud Boholanos, rich in their culture, tradition and belief. We are talking of no less than the former Mayor, Provincial Board Member, Congressman and the incumbent Governor of Bohol - no other than Erico Aumentado, the modern day hero of Bohol.

The recent assignment of COL. ALAN LUGA, as the Commander of the Military's 802nd Brigade in Bohol shall surely strengthen this bond between the Boholanos and the Cebuanos to further strengthen the foundation of peace and development in Bohol and to secure the Province from intrussion of elements that threatens the progress that Bohol already enjoyed for two decades. COL. ALAN R. LUGA, is the son of GEN. EMILIO S. LUGA, JR. (PMA Class 54'), Chairman Emeritus of the PMA - Cebu Squad Inc., consisting of Cebuano speaking graduates and Cavaliers of the Philippine Military Academy here and abroad, the great grandson of a national hero, GEN. MATEO NORIEL LUGA, the Filipino General who sent Gen. Lawton with his fleet of Navy running away from battle in Cebu during the Filipino-American War.