Governor Carlito S. Marquez delivered his 6^th State of the Province Address (SOPA) at the jampacked Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session Hall on January 28, 2010.

The SOPA, which lasted 75 minutes, was attended by Vice Governor Gabrielle Calizo-Quimpo, Aklan Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members, the municipal mayors, department and national agencies heads, law enforcement authorities, representatives of non-government organizations and people’s organizations, academe and the media.

                Governor Marquez’ address opened up with the statement that the province of Aklan may now be categorized as a first-class province for having attained and sustained an income of more than P350 million for the last four consecutive years.

                Despite the worldwide economic downturn, some of the major sources of income posted an increase, such as the Cagban and Caticlan Jetty Ports that has collected P83 million, more than P5.5 million from the previous year; tourist arrivals in Boracay Island managed to squeak in an increase of 2.3% from 634,263 in 2008 to 649,559 in 2009 bringing in a total of P11.9 billion in tourist revenues; the General Fund and Economic Enterprise Development Department (EEDD) collections achieved a 12% increase or P75.6 million, from P650.3 million in 2008 to P725.9 million in 2009; tax collection by the Bureau of Internal Revenue posted an increase of 4.8%, P577.4 million in 2009 compared to 2008’s P550.8 million.

The economic growth of Aklan has necessitated more funds for more projects and programs, thus the considerable increase in its annual budget. For 2010, the budget is a total of P950 million, ranked no. 3 in Region VI in budget size.

Governor Marquez said that the province of Aklan is “financially healthy.”

Some of the major accomplishments included in the SOPA were the 148,222 metric tons rice production in 2009 and a rice sufficiency level of 117.8% making the province of Aklan still a rice-exporting province; the P31.4 million irrigation projects of the National Irrigation Commission through the Aklan-Capiz Irrigation Management Office; the P96 million worth of infrastructures implemented and completed by the provincial engineering office; the five-year Provincewide Investment Plan for Health or PIPH wherein a P1.044 billion health program shall be implemented; the universal coverage of PhilHealth for the whole province; the 649,559 tourist arrivals in Boracay Island bringing in a total of P11.9 billion in tourist revenues; the increased number of domestic and international flights in Kalibo International Airport and Caticlan Airport; the commencing of the P2.5 billion Caticlan Airport Development Project; the groundbreaking of the country’s first Biomass Power Plant in Banga, Aklan; the initiation of the P260 million Aklan Marina Project financed through the innovative bond flotation scheme; and the Aklan Regreening and Beautification Project and the Concert at the Park, both of which were launched in 2009 for tourism purposes.

Governor Marquez thanked the people of Aklan and those who share his vision for a prosperous and stable province, from the lowly volunteers to the heads of the different national offices and provincial government departments, the professionals, the private sector, the civic groups, the barangay folks, even those of different political parties. He said that his six years of administration has been fulfilling because of all the accomplishments and upward development of the province of Aklan.