By PIA-Bohol | 07:13 PM October 11, 2026
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol—Because no one should be left behind, a directive that Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado issued during his first term for all government agencies and non-government organizations, including sectoral development groups and funding institutions to focus their development efforts on Bohol’s identified poorest towns have produced results.
Sharing the good news to the Boholano development partners attending the State of the Province Address at the Bohol Cultural Center October 9, 2026, Aumentado, who took the relay baton in continuing the push to heave the province’s indigents over the threshold, said poverty has reduced 21.9 percent in 25 years.
This entailed continued pressure from two administrations, to which the younger Aumentado now wields.
From a poverty incidence of 50.2 percent in 2000, which led my father, Gov Erico B. Aumentado to create Bohol’s Poverty Reduction Framework, our poverty incidence among families fell to 11 percent in 2025, the lowest ever in Bohol’s history, Aumentado beamed, citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
During his first public address on the state of the province, Aumentado noted that the PSA data showed all towns in Bohol First Congressional District having less than 20 percent of its population rated poor.
This after Balilihan, Calape, Catigbian, Loon and Tubigon, which had less than 40 percent of its residents rated as poor in 2021, improving their lots in 2023.
In Bohol’s Second District, when all 14 towns were still saddled with less than 40 percent of its population identified as poor, the figures changed in 25 with Clarin and Sagbayan lessening their poor to less than 20 percent.
In Bohol’s Third District, with just Lila, Loay and Loboc having less than 20 percent of its population rated poor, the figures improved in 2023 with Anda, Bilar, Dimiao, Duero, Garcia Hernandez, Guindulman, Jagna, joining Loay and Loboc.
Lila however, slid to Level 2, with 40% of its population now rated poor, as to the PSA data in 2023.
But, still, from 19 towns with less than 20 percent of its population still considered poor in 2021 by PSA standards, the figure in 2023 is 26, the governor pointed out.
In Bohol, all our component LGUS are within the two levels: Level 1 where 0 to less than 20% of the population are still poor and Level 2 where only 20 to 40 percent of the population are poor, Aumentado said.
Now with 22 towns still struggling to cut their poor to less than 20%, Capitol, as well as national government agencies and its development partners have lesser number of towns to pour in their development interventions, to continue reducing the poor, until no one is left behind. (PIABohol)
