Provincial Board Member Gerry Garcia on Friday appealed to the sector of the elders to keep inspiring and supporting Chatto's leadership of the province, especially in the trying time of rehabilitation. “Ako magpatabang gyud ko ninyo nga atong tabangan ang atong gobernador, ang atong mga lider, apil ang atong mga congressmen atubangan sa dakung tahas,” the Sanggunaing Panlalawigan (SP) member asked during the year-end evaluation meeting of the Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines (FSCAP) – Bohol Chapter. Garcia graced the federation's year-end assessment conference together with Capitol Executive Assistant Billy Tongco representing the governor. He said the prevailing crisis caused by disasters from earthquake to typhoons “could only tell us to set aside divisive politics and work together for what Gov. Chatto calls a Bohol that rises greater than what it was before the earthquake.” The challenge to rebuild the province is “not a joke,” Garcia said, citing the extreme destruction in his own district, particularly in the town of Sagbayan, during the quake. In an unexpected statement, the capitol lawmaker from the Second District said that even the politics in his district “has to be rehabilitated.” “Wa ta pul-i sa pagsige'g pamulitika?” Garcia posed such a question---and even further pleaded to “help us reconcile in our district”---as he reiterated his appeal to the elders to join the Bohol leadership in the “bold move towards Bohol's recovery.”

In lieu of the governor, Tongco reechoed to the elders' group Chatto's call for solidarity in rebuilding the province from ruins. The governor could not come to the FSCAP affair because of overlapping schedules related to the rehabilitation program.“Let's pray together in welcoming 2014 with the guidance of Our Lord and wisdom of the leadership of our province,” Garcia further asked the senior citizens for whose respect he valued a lot. Bohol achieved more in governance and different fronts of development in 2013 but the momentum was cut by the October 15 morning earthquake, which was the mightiest and deadliest in Bohol ever and the second strongest and most destructive in the country in a hundred years. The governor was himself injured in a freak accident last New Year's eve or exactly a year ago on Tuesday which to him could be an “omen” of what still most unwanted event---which turned out to be the great earthquake---could happen within 2013. For the provincial leader, the closing year of unprecedented, epic disasters would still long be remembered as a “colorful” chapter in the history of Bohol and its people. (Ven rebo Arigo)