Bohol solons file bill naming road after President Garcia

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  — Three congressmen of Bohol recently filed a bill seeking to name a road in the province the President Carlos P. Garcia Circumferential Road, in honor of the only Boholano who became the country’s president.

The bill, principally authored by Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd district), has the support of two other legislators, Rep. Rene Relampagos (1st district) and Rep. Arthur Yap (3rd district), as co-authors.

The idea was raised by Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II during the latest meeting of the Provincial Development Council’s executive committee where he contended that for several years already Boholanos have benefited from the circumferential road thus it is now the time to name it in honor of the most illustrious son of Bohol.

Garcia was born on November 4, 1986 in Talibon town in Bohol’s north coast, 148 kilometers from the capital city. The town is along the Tagbilaran North Road (TNR) that goes from Tagbilaran in the southwest tip of the fist-shaped island, to Ubay town on the northeast tip. The other “half” of the circumferential road, known as the Tagbilaran East Road (TER) goes east from Tagbilaran to Candijay town, then north to Ubay.

In the bill’s explanatory note, Aumentado said Pres. Garcia was an outstanding public servant during his time, starting his political career as congressman of the 3rd district, which is now the 2nd district. 

Garcia went on to become governor, then senator and vice president before becoming the country’s 8th president.

He failed in his presidential reelection bid and retired to Tagbilaran as private citizen until he got elected delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention. He died of heart attack on June 14, 1971, only days after he was elected president of the convention.

A statesman, diplomat, nationalist and father of the Filipino First Policy, poet laureate and exemplary public servant who had not enriched himself in office, Garcia deserves to be perpetuated in memory by renaming the circumferential road after him, Aumentado explained.  (FREEMAN)