Waking up in the morning gives you two choices. You go back to sleep and dream. Or you can rise up and chase that dream.

Some chasing Bohol has done. From what cynics thought was another drawing in water or a pipe dream, the Panglao Bohol International Airport is finally taking opaque shape and a luminous future besides.

The entire board of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communication), which is the lead agency in-charge of the Panglao airport - were here last Friday to all but seal the fate of the once-elusive dream.

It matters not as much whether the airport will be finished before the 2010 term of GMA ends; she will be rightfully remembered as its patroness, believer as she ardently is in the wonders of Bohol paradise - especially being the "beach persons" that she and the First Gentleman are.

The two high hurdles of the project have been surmounted. With a little creative financial engineering, some P3 billion in (taipan Lucio Tan's) Philippine Airline's long-term payables to MIAA will be re-channeled to service the amortized obligation of the project - thus attracting funders of the project.

The other is the funding of lots which is now in full swing with the government fund release. We suggest to the concerned lot owners not to play "hard to get" because an expropriation is a right reserved for government in matters of infrastructure purposes.

Aside from the cash, do feel proud that where once upon a time yours was a lowly lot - soon would stand in its stead an international airport.

Kudos should go where it should - to Governor Erico Aumentado and First District Congressman and Tourism Commitee Chair of the Lower House Edgar Chatto who relentlessly pursued the goal to where it is today.

For indeed Bohol deserves an airport of international quality because by golly, our tour destinations are world-class with much of nature's originality kept in its awesome beauty.

But don't just take our word for it. Take it from McKingsy, a US-based survey firm who affirmed that the best tourism hub by far is the Cebu-Bohol route. To take nothing from Cebu, Bohol has the more woe-be-gone rustic authenticity. And tourism, no doubt, will be one of the "movers" of the Medium-Term Development Plan of the country.

Our tourist numbers are just scratching surface - and if Thailand is just a point of reference, hands-down Bohol and our islands have a lot more to offer aside from the beaches. We don't have to pretend "night life" is our forte and rowdy musicality and wild parties are our come-ons.

Bohol can stand alone quietly in its pristine beauty. It's almost akin to the song that goes: You say it best when you say nothing at all.

The city airport is a relic of the past. In this 21st century of speed booking and volume group tours, the poor airport wont do - it had served its purpose and had served it well. We need that huge spanking airport that can land the jets without worry. Even without the international flights, just being able to accommodate large airplanes locally can jump-start airport activities on Day One.

Judging a book by its cover is equivalent of judging a province by its airport. It is a first encounter with a visitor who is psyched to be bewitched and surprised by safe and clean facilities amid nature's numerous jewels.

That airport will attract the international chain of resorts - Marriot, Shangrila etc. and the local biggies like the Ayalas - and the quantum leap of tourism we used to only editorialize about in the past in now close to being a reality.

But the caveats will always be there. It is fine for now that we are aware that the price of progress: environmental degradation, sanitation, criminality and prostitution - will lurk like ominous dark clouds to be avoided by us.

Now that the Crown Jewel is in our hands - let's not spoil it with rigged biddings, sloppy engineering work and politics. Let the whole province be proud of this legacy of growth and development that the airport will certainly bring.

UNEASY LIVES THE CITY

Once upon a time one can walk home in this city from midnight parties in one piece.
There was no need for cellular phones. Parents knew their kids will be home from fun with their whole anatomy intact. No longer it seems - in this city many of us call home.

Killings, shootings and robberies are in a rash in the city - it is no longer funny.

There is no more line between assault on life or property. If the robber wants your cellphone, jewelry or wallet - the 2000 version of the criminal will not hesitate to take your life. It can be depressing to note indeed how little value life is today. The cold-blooded killing of a resort executive who doubles as an event organizer inside a residential area is a shocker to many.

This should serve as a wake up call for City Mayor Dan Lim - whose "Dirty Harry" treatment of drug criminals almost wiped their race off the streets. He should strike his iron hand with the same intensity against this new brand of city abominables.

A Bohol Poll survey had lauded Lim's no-nonsense war versus drugs during his first term that merited him such popularity and maybe his reelection.

We know the usual constraints found in growing medium-sized cities like Tagbilaran. A ratio of 1:1,500 (police:citizen) is too big to be really efficient. Yet multiplying the police force entails a strain on the city pockets. Motorcycles and car vehicles, already lacking in numbers sometimes don't have budget for gas and repairs. We can't go to the boxing ring with one hand tied at the back, as the sports aficionado and patron Dan Lim knows so well.

The security agency forces should coordinate with the city PNP for good measure. They are usually armed and hopefully have two eyes wide open on the watch. They can be watchdog extension of the authority.

More vehicles mean more police visibility- can the private sector pass the hat for gas money in the meantime that criminality is raging in the city? Stricter implementation of the 10 p.m. liquor ban and the curfew is in order.

But most of all, maybe Mayor Lim can tap the barangay tanods for real intelligence work which the mayor successfully did in the battle against drugs. Maybe giving them arms may be asking too much for the moment but their presence in the community at night prowls will be a decided help.

We miss those nights when the friendly neighborhood took turns in serving coffee to the watchful tanods. Shall we do this again?

City crimes are on the rise - we challenge the city mayor to act quick and dirty. We don't mind, really.

For Comments: email to bingo_dejaresco@boholchronicle.com Or editor@boholchronicle.com