Rebel-infested brgys given P8M farm road

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jan 26): Rebel-infested brgys given P8M farm road

The provincial government of Negros Occidental and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process have allocated P8 million for the construction of a farm-to-market road, that will connect two insurgency-affected barangays of this town and Calatrava in northern Negros. This took place while preparations for the signing of the closure peace agreement between the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade and the Philippine government are still ongoing.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon and OPPAP Project Management Office chief Roy Bautista, assisted by Board Member Nehemias de la Cruz and local government officials, led the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday of the P8 million farm-to-market road at the Crossing Magticol-Cambayodo project site here.

In previous years, several encounters between government troopers and suspected New People’s Army rebels had taken place in the hinterlands of Brgy. Magticol here and in Brgy. Cambayodo, Calatrava, military records show.

Marañon reiterated his call for the NPA members to join him in the fight against poverty, and not by killing each other.

The farm-to-market road, a joint project of the provincial government of Negros Occidental and OPPAP, a third similar project undertaken by provincial government in the hinterlands of this town late last year, is expected to benefit 4,016 residents of two hinterland barangays, Marañon said.

With farm-to-market road, the cost of delivery of agricultural crops and transportation will be considerably reduced, and public transportation will become more available to students going to the poblacion, or nearby secondary schools, Marañon said.

Cambayobo Brgy. Capt. Letecia Hubahib told Marañon that they have been waiting 12 years for the project to happen, while Magticol barangay chairman Roberto Villasis thanked the provincial government for the road.

Bautista said “This Cambayobo-Magticol link can be called a road to peace.”

The RPM-R/RPA-ABB (Tabara Paduano Group) is also a member of the project implementing team, with the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist as the implementor.

The OPPAP has released so far P27.3 million to the provincial government of Negros Occidental, for the construction of infrastructure projects, under its PAMANA (Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan) program.

Marañon said they have undertaken similar projects in two hinterlands sitios in Brgy. Bug-ang, here, with an allocation of P21.5 million, including the Polopangyan-Pasto-Salvacion and the second road concreting projects at Crossing Onggoy in Brgy. Bug-ang and Sitio Mainit in Brgy. Magticol, all in this town now being implemented by the Army’s 542nd Engineering Construction Battalion.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/January/26/topstory5.htm