Friendship could be binding even to the next generation.

This happened to Rep. Aris Aumentado who succeeded his late father, former Erico Boyles Aumentado who served as Bohol governor and congressman. 

A true friend of his late father invited him Tuesday to a meeting in Manila just to ask how he could help the province.  Their conversation focused on locallty generated renewable energy for Bohol.

The Aumentado friend is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of a multi-billion peso company. He sought the solon, knowing that the father was largely responsible for the realization of the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Project (LBIP).

To this day, Bohol remains largely dependent on the Leyte Geothermal Power Plant. From Tongonan in Northern Leyte, the geothermal source, power is brought through overhead cables to Maasin City in Southern Leyte, on to Guadalupe town.

It then goes through submarine cables that surface in Tugas Point in the island town of President Carlos P. Garcia in Bohol. It goes through overhead cables again to the other end of the island, across the Basiao Channel to the substation in Ubay in mainland Bohol.

Upon getting the details from the solon, the friend said his company has the technology to produce from 150 to 200 megawatts of renewable energy in Bohol.

This much power may be more than what Bohol could need in the near future, but he said his company can always sell the overproduction to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

The NGCP can then distribute Bohol’s excess power production to other provinces through the submarine cable. Leyte is also connected by submarine cable to Cebu. This was the route Cebu power took in the wake of typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

NGCP used this set up until it was able to erect towers to string the overhead cables again, to replace those felled by the super typhoon.

The friend assured Aumentado that his company will immediately conduct a careful and thorough study and economic viability and projection for this project. After all, it will be a big investment that he will be putting in the province.

The solon said this is the CEO’s way of supporting the elder Aumentado’s development goals for Bohol. He quoted the CEO’s assurance that his pricing will be reasonable for the locals – and that the former will not affect the current power retail pricing.

Aumentado however emphasized that just like his father, he and the Second District mayors are against coal-fired power generation plants. The latter will emit pollutants that will adversely affect the air quality – and with it – Bohol’s major economic drivers that are agriculture and tourism.