MORE NEWS, IFUGAO

P163M set for rehab of Mt Province-Ilocos Sur road

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Department of Public Works and Highways allocated P163 million in the P1.227 trillion national budget to fund initial rehabilitation works along the Sabangan, Mountain province-Cervantes, Ilocos Sur that will link this province to nearby Ilocos Sur in Region I.

Rep Victor S. Dominguez said the DPWH has complied with its earlier commitment to provide local funds for the implementation of various rehabilitation works along the 41-kilometer roadline after the foreign funding for the project was exhausted due to the escalation of prices of other construction materials for the other foreign-assisted projects.

The P463 million rehabilitation of the Sabangan-Cervantes road was supposed to be simultaneously done with the P672 million upgrading of the Abatan, Buguias-Mankayan, Benguet-Cervantes, Ilocos Sur secondary national arterial road.

However, the funds provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation was depleted due to the adjustments in several projects in the different parts of the country brought about by the sudden rise in the prices of construction materials, thus, the DPWH was forced to give up the works along the Sabangan-Cervantes road.

The DPWH allocated P43.5 million from its excess funds last year to jumpstart initial works along the Mountain province section of the road and another P19.5 million for the Ilocos Sur side of the road.

DPWH officials assured the lawmaker that the agency will complete the funding for the rehabilitation of the road in the next three years and its full rehabilitation will be completed when the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends on June 30, 2010.

Once completed, people from Mountain province and Ifugao who want to go to the Ilocos region, especially the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, will have a shorter travel time when using the arterial road compared to the present situation where they have to pass through Baguio City en route towards their point of destination in the lowlands.

The upgrading of the two arterial roads is part of the ambitious infrastructure projects lined up by the President for completion under the North Luzon Agri-business Quadrangle or the Super Region project, which is aimed at improving accessibility to far flung communities and inter-connecting them for better economic activities.

The Cordillera is one of the primary beneficiaries of the numerous infrastructure projects specified under the NLAW to boost tourism and business opportunities in the region and Mountain province is the recipient of bulk of the road development projects. -- Dexter A. See


Paracelis bocap nabbed for murder

PARACELIS, Mountain Province – The newly elected barangay captain of Barangay Bacarri here whom police tagged as most wanted person in the province was nabbed here last week.
Provincial police chief Joseph C. Adnol said Task Force Paracelis under Senior Insp. Allan Buccahan Guyguyon arrested Banawe Gusimat , 37, married on Jan. 4 for murder.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by regional trial court Judge Artemio Marrero. The suspect is now incarcerated at the Bontoc municipal jail.

The task force was organized in the wake of the ambush-slay of Paracelis Mayor Cesar B. Rafael due to tense situation in the town which might escalate to further violence.

“While checkpoints were intensified around town, we encourage people to do their own share in peacekeeping by reporting to police authorities any person in possession of firearms,” Adnol said.

In another incident, Bontoc police nabbed a certain Cornelio Chara-eg Mangtag, 31 of Sadanga town in the province for attempted homicide.

Judge Luis Daoen of the Bontoc municipal trial court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Still in Paracelis, a certain Marcelino Naofiag, 45, married and town resident, was also nabbed here at Sitio Amolong last week by TFP cops for violation of Republic Act 7610.

Judge Joseph Patna-an of RTC, Branch 35, Bontoc issued the warrant for his arrest.