Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. leads the ribbon-cutting ceremonies at Victor Basilan Road (Left Photo) and at Aba-Bacarri Road (Right Photo) in Paracelis. With him are DILG-CAR Regional Director Marlo L. Iringan, DILG-MP Provincial Director Anthony Manolo I. Ballug, Paracelis Municipal and Barangay Officials and other stakeholders. Photos by Henry Aluyen
Paracelis – Mountain Province Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. expressed his desire for more infrastructure project implementation by the provincial government during the inauguration of two roads in Paracelis, Mountain Province on July 30, 2019.
Gov. Lacwasan led the ribbon-cutting ceremonies during the aforementioned inauguration of the improved Fontanilla Road located in Poblacion and of the Aba – Bacarri Provincial Road located between barangays Bantay and Bacarri. He was assisted by Poblacion Brgy. Captain and ABC President Roy Gamonnac and former SP Member Raul Lapon, and DILG Regional Director Marlo Iringan and DILG Provincial Director Anthony Manolo Ballug, respectively. Both events were witnessed by the provincial and barangay officials and employees and other stakeholders.
In his message, Lacwasan cited that the improvement of Fontanilla Road, now Victor Basilan Road, was an initiative of the provincial government funded through a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
He further articulated that the Fontanilla Road was a barangay road in Poblacion, Paracelis but was converted into a provincial road bearing the name Victor Basilan Road through Provincial Ordinance No. 334 entitled “AN ORDINANCE CONVERTING THE VICTOR BASILAN ROAD INTO A PROVINCIAL ROAD” authored by former SP Member Raul Lapon.
On the other hand, the improvement of the Aba-Bacarri provincial road is one of the many projects identified by the provincial government to implement after having been granted with a project fund from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) under its Conditional Matching Grant to the Provinces (CMGP) program.
“After learning of this grant by the DILG, I was very much elated because I know how it will benefit not only the easternmost town of our province in terms of the delivery of basic services and livelihood programs to our people but also, it will help in the development of MPSPC-Bacarri Campus which is our partner institution in the molding of our children to become responsible and productive people of the province,” the Governor said.
“In fact, this project shared the largest slice of the whole DILG-CMGP pie implemented by Provincial Local Government Unit of Mountain Province,” he added.
After commending both the DILG Regional Director and Provincial Director for their unrelenting assistance to the provincial government, the Governor further stated his commitment to observe speedier project completion of all future projects to be awarded to the provincial government.
In his talk, Provincial Engineer Edward Likigan gave the background for both projects.
“The Fontanilla Road is actually the brainchild of both Gov. Lacwasan and former SP Member Raul Lapon. This is to address the frequent occurrences of road accidents in the area,” he remarked.
Likigan added that the contract amount for the Fontanilla Road was P4,750,441.00 while the contract amount for the Aba-Bacarri Road was P69,994,499.00.
He also explained that although there was a remarkable delay in the completion of the Aba-Bacarri road improvement due to road-right-of-way issues from the stakeholders, the project cost was still efficiently managed.
The issue on road-right-of-way as the primary reason for project completion delay was further supported by DILG Provincial Director Ballug in his message during the inauguration program.
“I have been personally attending series of meetings aimed on how to effectively resolve the apparent road-right-of-way issue from the stakeholders so I understand that the significant delay of this project completion was because of this; I then hope that in the succeeding projects to come, this issue will not cause such delay because after all, these kinds of projects are intended to uplift and improve the livelihood condition of the community concerned; may this be our learning experience,” Ballug said.
Ballug further cited other DILG-CMGP projects to ensue in Mountain Province.
“We are happy that due to the exemplary performance of our LGUs, more projects are expected to be implemented in the various municipalities of our province,” he said.
“With the several on-going projects implemented by the provincial government under the DILG-CMGP program, 100% of the provincial roads shall have been concreted in a little over five years,” he further remarked.
Also, DILG Regional Director Marlo Iringan congratulated the Provincial Local Government Unit of Mountain Province for a project well-done notwithstanding some challenges it had to face.
He said that he is deeply pleased with how the road project turned out to be and challenged the barangay residents/ stakeholders to instill within them the sense of ownership and be responsible for the road’s maintenance needs because in the end, they are the main beneficiary of this development in their community.
In response, Paracelis SB Members Lito Basungit, Ruben Vicente, Ateneo Gusimat, and Ex-Officio SB Member Roy Gamonnac who were present during the inauguration ceremony were one in expressing their profound gratitude to the provincial government as well as to the DILG Regional and Provincial Director for the projects bequeathed to their municipality. They also committed to provide excellent maintenance management for these roads in hope for more projects to come in Paracelis.
Meanwhile, to cap his message, Director Iringan stressed on the sincerity of the government in bringing its policies and programs closer to the people, particularly to those at the countryside.
“May I take this opportunity to say that this simple development in your community can also show that the government cares for you,” he added.
