Baguio’s major roads reopened; Cagayan relief operations on

TUBA, Benguet– Major roads to this city, except the Halsema Highway, have been reopened to allow delivery of fuel, food and relief goods and transport of vegetables to Metro Manila and Luzon even as relief operations were ongoing in Cagayan hard hit by Typhoon “Pepeng” at press time.

Kennon Road was opened on afternoon of Oct. 11 to light vehicles after landslides isolated Baguio for two days.

By Tuesday morning, it was completely reopened making more supplies delivered to Baguio and neighboring provinces.

On midnight Monday, Marcos Highway in sitio Palina, Taloy Sur, Tuba was cleared of boulders and mud.

The road was widened Tuesday morning to allow all types of vehicles to pass.

Naguilian Road was opened early dawn Tuesday, though only to light vehicles.

Engineer Francis Almora, Public Works and Highways-Cordillera spokesman, said Halsema Highway (Baguio-Bontoc road), the major road from Northern Benguet’s vegetable belt, as well as Baguio-Tublay road and Km. 18 were also reopened Oct. 13.

Government road managers are working on the second phase of fixing the major trunklines to Baguio including the Baguio-Vizcaya Road, he added.

Almora said DPWH personnel, using rented equipment and working 18 hours a day, are building a detour road that would avoid areas hit by landslides.

There are still three big road cuts and 27 slides to be cleared, and the portion at saddle, which sagged before Km. 35 (Tapdac, Atok), is clear up to Bontoc in Mountain Province, he added.

As of press time, at least four kilometers of roads would have to be cleared of mud and boulders to allow the delivery of vegetables to La Trinidad trading post, Metro Manila and other provincial market destinations.

Some barangays in Benguet are still being dug out from the rubble, while rescue and retrieval operations in Mountain Province have been stalled because Air Force planes have been waylaid by thick clouds and bad weather.

In Cagayan province, food and other basic goods were running out in the island town of Calayan, one of the worst-hit by typhoon Pepeng.

Reports said medicine shortages had been especially noticed in the island barangay of Babuyan Claro in Calayan, as well as in the neighboring Fuga island which is part of Aparri town.
No direct sea or air flights to Calayan town have as yet been established.

Calayan Mayor Joseph Llopis said the problem was aggravated by the distance from the sources of relief goods in Aparri and Santa Ana towns. It takes around eight hours to reach the site, he added.

Llopis said authorities were last able to bring supplies to the island town the other day.

“In fact, all of the relief packs, consisting of medicine, food, canned goods and the like, which were sent to (Babuyan Claro) the calamity areas in the barangay had been totally consumed and no replacements are yet in sight,” he said.

Llopis said Babuyan Claro, a small island barangay along the Pacific coast, has 1,200 residents.

“Priority was given to the island province of Batanes which was also reported to be experiencing shortages of food stuffs like here in Calayan,” he said.

Itbayat town in Batanes and the rest of the province, to a lesser extent, had also been reported to be experiencing the same shortages of food, medicine and gasoline.

Calayan’s agricultural sector suffered the most devastation with some P30 million in damaged crops.

Llopis called for immediate assistance for his town, especially with regard to agricultural inputs as well as transportation to and from the island. – With CL