Sagada road rehab on; more tourists projected

By Francis B. Degay

SAGADA, Mountain Province – The ongoing rehabilitation of the Dantay-Sagada Road is going smoothly and once done, this tourist town would lure more tourists.

Vice Mayor Richard Yodong bared this as he expressed his gratitude to the office of the secretary of the Department of Tourism saying the project was offshoot of a resolution of the Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada, dated Oct. 11, 2010 that was submitted to former DOT Sec. Alberto Lim.

Lim then endorsed the resolution to Department of Public Works and Highway Sec. Rogelio Singson.

In his letter, Lim justified that Mountain Province was identified as one of the Tourism Development Areas (TDAs) for the Cordillera Tourism Destination Cluster in the National Development Plan.

He added the Dantay-Sagada-Besao road had been listed by the stakeholders during the NTDP regional and cluster consultations.
In a letter last Sept. 28, DPWH Assistant Sec. Maria Cabral wrote Yodong informing him P78.8 million had been released for the said project and that P50 million was released for Calendar Year 2010 and P28.8 million for CY 2011.

In an interview with Yodong, he said that visitor and tourist arrivals will eventually increase as a result of the road improvement.

He added he will follow up with the central offices of DOT and DPWH in Manila improvement of a parking space just above the Sumaguing cave along the Poblacion-Suyo road.

Resolution No. 45, s. 2010 adapted on Oct. 11, 2010 by the Sangguniang Bayan of Sagada requested the Lim immediate release of P80 million pesos for rehabilitation and improvement of the Dantay-Sagada national road to prevent further loss of lives.

The past years, several vehicular accidents along the Dantay-Sagada road claimed several lives of commuters.

In 1996, seven teachers from the municipality of Besao died when a passenger jeep they were riding plunged down a deep ravine while on their way for a field trip to Mainit, Bontoc.

In 2007, nine passengers and the late Engineer Tomas Lawagan died in separate incidents when the vehicle they were riding in fell down a precipice.

In 2009, the late pastor Victor Batcagan and three of his family members died when their vehicle also fell down the road.

This year two males also died when the vehicle they were riding met an accident along the road.