By JUNE S. BLANCO
CABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. and Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District) Thursday morning led launching ceremonies of the biography of the former’s friend and the latter’s father at the Fortridge Pavillion in Soculan, Dauis town.
Erico Boyles Aumentado: A Great Boholano Leader is now off the press. Aumentado had invited Evasco to be the guest of honor and speaker. initial copies are sold at the introductory/launching price of only P500, available at the Aumentado museum and residence at New Capitol Heights, this city.
In his message, Evasco said the elder Aumentado is the epitome of good public service. He said he got to know the solon when the latter frequented Davao City in 2001 shepherding selected Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) employees undergoing training in different aspects of human resources as part of a grant from the Australian Government.
Evasco confessed that it was in one of their meetings there that the solon invited him to return to his hometown of Maribojoc to run as mayor and introduce the kind and brand of development that he has implemented in Davao City.
And, as the saying goes, the rest is history. Evasco completed three terms as mayor of the previously sleepy town before his current stint as Cabinet Secretary of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
He spelled out his current task in the most basic term as “coordinator” of the rest of the secretaries in order to put their acts together to benefit the most number of Filipinos.
For their part, authors Bingo Dejaresco and Ben Cal gave anecdotes on their personal experiences with the former governor.
Granddaughter and passer of the 2016 bar examinations Jiselle Rae Aumentado-Villamor bared her life with her grandfather. She said he was doting on her, but assumed a strict and no-nonsense façade as her boss.
Aumentado the son was the elder Aumentado;s chief of staff. As such, he had direct experience as front liner in following up funding from different agencies. Into his own terms now, he followed up his father’s contacts, established rapport, and again, the rest is history.
For her part, Aumentado matriarch Grenie said she was deeply moved on hearing directly from those affected that her husband had touched their lives in so many ways..
