MASLOG, Eastern Samar– Residents of two remote villages of this town are hopeful that life will be easier and more comfortable with the construction of a concrete road that will connect the town to its nearest municipality of Jipapad.
Last May 26, the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of Maslog- Jipapad Road was held and attended by excited village officials.
The project is expected to be finished in eight months.
The ceremony was attended and led by 4Ps party-list and Minority Leader, Rep. Marcelino Libanan, Maslog Mayor Heraclio Santiago, and officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways -Eastern Samar District Office led by Engineer Alvin Ignacio.
According to Federico Bergonio, village leader of San Roque, for the longest time, farmers from their area had difficulty of transporting their farm produce, students also struggled going to school especially when the weather was bad.
“Transportation is very hard since the road is not paved, transportation cost is so high as we have to spend at least a P100 in transporting one sack of palay; it is also slippery when rainy, while students have to walk three to five kilometers just to go to school. It’s really hard,” he said.
With the construction of the road, life is about to be better, he added. “We are happy and thankful,” Bergonio said.
Meanwhile, Alberto Nuguit, village chair of Tugas, said that even their improvised cargo for their products is easily damaged because of the road condition.
“In our village, cargoes can pass but get damaged eventually because of the bad condition of the roads. Thus we are thankful that with the construction of the road, our dream to have paved and connected roads is now a reality,” he said.
Nuguit added that the road construction will eventually eradicate the influence of the New People’s Army (NPA) in their area.
For his part, Mayor Santiago said that upon the completion of the road project, travel time to their town will reduce significantly.
Meanwhile, it is noted that the Dolores-Maslog road construction is ongoing has a P350 million project cost.
Rep. Libanan also vowed to allocate another P450 million for the continuation of the Maslog-Jipapad road project.
Libanan also informed that he requested the DPWH regional office to make the road 12 inches thick in preparation for the conversion of the road to a national road.
“I will work hard so that an additional P450 million funding will be added to the existing budget. I really hope to finish the Samar Island Circumferential Road,” he said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
