P20.35 million Sagada town hall inaugurated

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The P20.35 million four-story municipal building was recently inaugurated in this tourist town with Rep. MaximoDalog as guest of honor.

Of the P20.35 million, P5 million from development funds of the provincial governor which position was then held by Dalog.

P13 million was added from the priority development assistance funds (PDAF) of the late Rep. Victor Dominguez, his post then occupied by caretaker Kalinga solon Manuel Agyao.

An additional amount of P2 million was added fromDalog’s PDAF as congressman.

The amount of P350,000 was sourced from Sen. Loren Legarda.

Sagada Mayor EduardoLatawanJr said P13 million was spent on the municipal building while an indirect cost of P7 million went to 12% taxes, 10% contractor’s profit, and overhead cost of materials amounting to 8- 13% of the total budget.

Government offices occupied the first three floors and the fourth floor will be utilized as conference hall.

In a separate interview with Radio Sagada, Dalog reported some of his accomplishment as solon of the province .
Dalog said his bill for the opening of a 2nd engineering sub-district in Natonin is already in the Senate.

He said he hopes the sub engineering office will be opened by 2012.

The Mountain Province solon also reported that a bill was forwarded for deliberation segregating the lot where Luis Hora Memorial Hospital in Bauko stand to be awarded to the said hospital, the lot being declared under Cordillera forest reserve.

Dalog said the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) is also being studied to make amendments to include compensation to host communities by companies using the communities’ natural resources.