Gov. Aumentado reconstitutes

PPOC, finally sets regular meet

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, August 4 (PIA) –After a long while, the newly reconstituted Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) has a pegged regular meeting, unlike then when it was at the whim of the chairman that notices were sent on short notice.

Through Executive Order No. 11, series of 2022, Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado has pinned the regular PPOC meeting every last Friday of the month, at a time and place he designates.

Unlike then when PPOC members gamble it out with their office schedules only to mess them when the meeting notice arrives, the facilitation now at least does away with that reluctance to hold office mandated events before the PPOC notice comes, confesses a PPOC member.

Aside from the PPOC Secretariat which convenes the PPOC members, calls for civil society organization nomination, reviews the CSO profile, proposes plans, programs, services and activities leading to peace and order and public safety in line with the national thrusts, recommends PPOC agenda, prepares resolutions and takes minutes of the meeting, audits the POC performance and prepares these technical reports, the EO also sets up Special Action Committees (SACs).

These are Anti-Insurgency SAC, Anti- Criminality SAC, Public Safety SAC, Crisis Management and the Peace and Order and Public Safety Plan Technical Working Group (TWG).

The Anti-Insurgency SAC, to be led by the Commanding officer of the 47IB, rallies his tem to identify plans, programs, service and activities (PPSA) that prevent insurgency, picks point persons to lead these PPSAs, readies budgets, timelines of the PPSA, implement ending local communist armed conflict (elcac) initiatives and submits these for integration into the peace and order and public safety plan.

The Anti-Criminality SAC to be led by the police provincial director also identifies specific ppsas that counter criminality, pick point persons for their activities, readies budgets, integrates these to the POPs TWG plan and timelines and submit mandated reports.

The SAC on Public Safety to be led by the Fire Marshal, identifies their Public Safety Programs, picks point persons for their planned activities, prepares program budgets integrate these to the POPS TWG for integration and implements and monitors these plans.

The Crisis Management Committee has point persons for medical, legal, logistics, community relations , public safety and social services who are tasked to provide and mobilize available resources through the established inter-agency sharing protocols, coordinate Inter Agency crisis management efforts, ensure the meeting of operational demands in crisis situations and establish accessible communication lines for effective coordination.

The POPs TWG, to be led by the Provincial Planning Officer, leads in the formulations of POPS plan, prepares documents that could guide the PPOC for future strategic directors, conduct data gathering and stakeholder consultations, coordinates with communities for these activities, presents this integrated POPS Plan for inclusion, approval and action, finalizes the POPS Plan and ensure the inclusion of key programs or strategies if deemed appropriate.

The governor signed the EO August 1. (rahc/PAI-7/Bohol)

NO MORE WHIMSICAL. The newly reconstituted PPOC now finally has a fixed regular meeting schedule unlike then when meetings were called on short notice, often messing with members’ schedules. The new PPOC has five special action committees to facilitate better and efficient interaction and coordination, according to the EO No 11 series of 2022 by Gov Aris Aumentado. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

Pilgrimage to 3 Bohol churches

gets graces like visiting Rome

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, August 3 (PIA) –BUT did you know that doing pilgrimages to three churches in Bohol attains for the spiritual traveler the same graces and indulgences when one visits a certain church in Rome in Italy?

A spiritual visit to the Marian Churches of our Lady of Light (Birhen sa Kasilak) in Loon, Our Lady of the Assumption (Birhen dela Asuncion) in Dauis and Virgin of Guadalupe Extremadura (Birhen sa Guadalupe) in Loboc can enjoy all the spiritual benefits as if they were visiting and praying in the Basilica Papale de Sancta Maria Maggiore in Rome.

The Basilica of Mary Major, or sometimes called the Lady of the Snows, is the largest catholic Marian church in Rome and houses in its chapel the venerated image of the Virgin Mary as the health and protector of the Roman people (Salus populi Romani).

Located under the basilica’s high altar is the Crypt of the Nativity, or “Bethlehem Crypt,” and features a crystal reliquary which is said to contain wood from the Holy Crib of Jesus Christ.

The papal basilica of Mary major is among the four major papal basilicas in Rome and one of the seven pilgrim churches in Rome with holy doors that open only on the jubilee year.

The seven pilgrim basilicas form the backbone of the tradition of visiting all seven churches as started by Philip Neri as a spiritual journey to combine conviviality and the sharing of a common religious experience through discovering of the heritage of the early Saints.

Naturally a journey that is believed to offer spiritual indulgences like forgiveness of sins and saving from eternal punishment as well as other indulgences, entering through the church holy doors on the year of the jubilee, makes up for a special remission of sins and universal pardon, in the same tradition that slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.

Founded on the tradition mentioned in Leviticus, on a jubilee year, often 50 years, anyone who enters the basilica through its holy doors or a church established with a spiritual affinity to its mother church, could obtain the same privileges for the pilgrim.

Last year, the Roman Marian Basilica has established a “bond of spiritual affinity” between it and the two churches in Bohol: in the Marian churches Dauis and Loon.

The year before that, the same Roman Basilica also established the same bond of spiritual affinity to the Marian church of Loboc, which is the seat of the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe Extremadura.

With the special bond of spiritual affinity, one need not go to Rome to get to Maria Maggiore, as a pilgrimage to these local churches could obtain for a pilgrim the same graces and indulgences one may get in getting to Rome.

With these, local tour and travel operators are looking at tourism packages that would lead to these pilgrim sites in Bohol, for local and even international tourists who need not go to Rome to earn the same indulgences.

The tour package will form one circuit for Bohol’s faith tourism, explains Travel Village Tours owner Lourdes T. Sultan, during a recent engagement with the local media. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

POTENTIAL FOR FAITH TOURISM. Bohol tourism private sector representative and Travel Village matriarch Lourdes Sultan announces the bond of spiritual affinity which Rome’s biggest Marian church established for three Bohol churches during last week’s Capitol Reports on tourism. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)