Residents urge retaining walls on Sagada road

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA MOUNTAIN PROVINCE-  Complaints from residents here along the Ato-Engan road persist on the glaring absence of  ripraps and their demands for the construction of retaining walls  directed to visiting implementors- Office of the Presidential Assistant on Peace Process (OPAPP),  Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government(DILG) with the  local  government unit here November  25.

The  630 meter stretch of the FMR  costing a total of 5.4 million pesos obviously shows slopes adjacent the road susceptible to soil erosion  coupled with lack of drainage systems at the edges of the road.

Municipal Engineer  Siano Baldo with the concurrence of DA, OPAPP and DILG personnel present during site  inspection said  project  funds can only accommodate opening  and paving of the road and that retaining walls  were not included in the construction of said FMR. Only some portions of  grouted ripraps below the road were constructed.

Siano said what is important is the opening of the road.

The Ato-Engan road leads to vegetable gardens and rice terraces.  

While this is so, residents who have donated portions of their lots for the opening of the road are wary  of landslides that could  occur on their adjoining lots threatening their lands and houses located above the road.

OPAPP area coordinator Adonis Bringas said complaints should be resolved as it is the aim of Payapa and Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) to bring peace in the community and prevent conflicts.

An interview with Bottom up Planning (BuB) focal person for Mountain Province Lynn Madalang said CSOs  include retaining walls  when they forward roads as their priority projects. BuB listed projects are identified by CSOs.

A recent monitoring of CSOs done two months ago and facilitated by DILG recommended the conduct of  public consultations before the conduct of the project.  An earlier monitoring  by OPAPP in 2013 noted the lack of public awareness on PAMANA projects in the municipality  and  issues on road right of way on said Ato-Engan road.

Budget for the 630 meter  Ato-Engan road began with a P500,000 sourced from the year 2013 BuB listing  worked on a 35  meter road  followed by a  42 meter unpaved road,  as shown in  straight line diagram drawn by the municipal engineering office  here. 

The BuB funded road is joined to a concreted 79 meter road with grouted riprap  below the road side  which begins the realigned P3.5 million sourced from  the P15 million  PAMANA  funded Tanulong- Madongo road.

Road concreting is broken by a 73 meter unpaved road  joined by a concreted  50 meter BuB  funding of  P1.4 million followed by another  176 meter unconcreted road.     

Implementing bodies pointed out that the P5.4 million peso FMR project is not double funded indicating where one project starts and ends. Complaints of residents here earlier forwarded a petition to DILG  through the focal person asking where one project ends and begins further questioning the quality of the implemented FMR.

A visible lack of signboards don’t indicate where one project starts and ends though a lone marker stating that the road is implemented by DA sits on the beginning section of the FMR.  

Said road is designed to reach another 1.5 kilometer stretch  towards sitio Binaybay joining the Besao road at sitio Atowanan.