Pasil folks press road works to boost trade

Colayo folks bring their farm produce to sell at Batong Buhay trudging a  2.5  hour hike. 

By Gina Dizon

PASIL, Kalinga – Tribal folks here urged rehabilitation of bumpy and rugged roads to  the northern and scenic  municipality  of   this province  to speed up commerce and  tourism potentials. 

           

Northern Colayo  is reached by trekking  2.5 hours a 13  km distance over hills and  rivers   from the  road junction at BatongBuhay.

           

Cool and scenic Colayo which borders Tinglayan municipality of this province   already initiated road systems that remains wanting of  road concreting, widening and bridge construction to gain access to  market outlets  and  boost tourism.

           

This  northern most  community of Pasil  grows quality native heirloom rice called ‘unoy’, coffee Arabica and gayunan oranges aside from  organic squash and  sweet potatoes. 

           

Colayo resident WagayGuyang   said the major need of the village is  the  opening  of the road so residents could bring  farm produce to the  market. 

           

She  raises  gayunan oranges  and pays the carrier a hundred pesos for a load of 25 kilograms of  oranges for  market at BatongBuhay.

           

Ellen Guisoben, a farmer from the same place has a similar story to tell.

           

She said a road outlet to BatongBuhay is the priority of the place  as farm products like  squash and other  crops are  a plenty in  Colayo. 

           

With a load of  10 pieces of squash carried to  BatongBuhay  with a 100 peso hire, the farmer  is left with a hundred peso income.

           

The people of Colayo identified  theColayo-BatongBuhay road as a top priority in their  plans forwarded to the Cordillera Highland Agricultural and  Resource  Management Project (CHARMP). 

To gain access to  the nearby  market outlet  at Batong  Buhay, a  P20 million  fund assistance was requested from  secretary  Proceso  Alcala  of the Department of Agriculture for the proposed  13  kilometer  BatongBuhay –Colayo farm to market road  rehabilitation  project.   

           

The road rehabilitation is projected to cost more than a hundred million pesos to  include construction of  two bridges.

           

One kilometer  of road development  including  concreting  and widening costs  20-25 million pesos.

           

An SB  resolution requested  Secretary of  the  Department of  Agrarian Reform  Virgilio de los Reyes to allocate 10 million pesos for the  construction of  BatongBuhay to Colayo  farm to market road. 

           

The potential tourist village of  Colayo is site to the cool Tumuyok waterfalls where waters  flow  along the  Maan-anibut Creek  connecting  Pasil  and to Chico river. 

           

A  quaint  village  is  surrounded by   rice terraces   carved along the  slopes  from the  roaring  Ma-an-anibut Creek  sourced from the luxuriant  Mosimos and Patang watersheds.

           

The road to Colayo  fromBatongBuhay was earlier opened  in 1960 when Butilao Mines of Lepanto Mining  Corporation  was operational until  1974. 

           

A road section got washed out along the Pasil river which now serves  as narrow and steep pathway  of  residents from Colayo  to BatongBuhay.

           

A P20 million road clearing  project  along the  BatongBuhay-  Colayo road was  implemented  by the  department of  public works and highways  in 2008.