Roads, other infra are PGMAs greatest legacy to EV Nierras
TACLOBAN CITY – The greatest legacy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the people of Eastern Visayas are the infrastructure projects that were implemented in the region.
Most of these projects are either completed or nearing completion while a few were just started recently, according to Cynthia Nierras, presidential assistant for Eastern Visayas.
Nierras said that among the major projects that were completed were national roads, ports, bridges and the various rural roads.
She cited, among others, the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway rehabilitation project in Samar province. These were the 52-km Calbayog-Gatanguic road section and the 59.5-km Gatanguic-Calbiga road section that were completed this year.
Then there was the Silago-Abuyog road in Leyte Island that completed the circumferential road in Southern Leyte, Nierras said in a recent interview.
The ongoing road projects, she said, include the circumferential road in Biliran Island, the 36-km Allen-Malaga road section in Samar, and the construction of new roads in Northern Samar.
The new roads undergoing construction in Northern Samar are the Samar Pacific Coastal Road that connects the towns of Palapag, Mapanas and Gamay and the Lapinig-Arteche road. ‘These are new roads that will eventually result in the completion of the circumferential road in Samar island,” Nierras said.
She added that recently they inaugurated the Jipapad-Lapinig Road. Jipapad is a town of Eastern Samar while Lapinig is the last town in Northern Samar. The 5-km road section was a new road constructed by the Army’s engineering battalion.
Many rural road projects now crisscross Leyte, Biliran and Samar Islands, some of them built under the DA’s Infrastructure for Rural Productivity Enhancement Sector (Infres) project or the Agrarian Reform Communities Project of DAR, which is also financed by ADB.
“It was the vision of PGMA, that barangays are connected to the highways by road,” Nierras disclosed.
According to Nierras, the President herself ordered for the construction of the road from the town proper of Basey, Samar to the area near the Sohoton Cave.
Nierras said the President wanted tourist spots in the region like the Sohoton Cave and Calicoan in Guiuan, Eastern Samar to be easily accessible to the locals and others including the tourists.
She said funds were also allotted for the repair and rehabilitation of the bad roads in Eastern Samar like the Wright-Taft Road and the Taft-Borongan-Guiuan road.
Many of the ongoing projects are expected to be completed by 2010, but Nierras said the new roads opened in Northern Samar might not be concreted by next year but these would be passable in 2010.
Aside from roads, many bridges were built in Eastern Visayas by the Arroyo administration like the billion-peso Agas-Agas Bridge and other such as the Gandara Bridge. “Fund has also been allotted for the bridge in Gen. MacArthur town in Eastern Samar that was washed out when typhoon “Frank” hit the province.
Many roll on-roll off ports and ferry terminals were constructed in the region during the term of President Arroyo under her Strong Republic Nautical Highway. Among these were the ones located in Liloan, Southern Leyte; Benit, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte; San Isidro, Northern Samar; and Barangays Looc and Dapdap in Allen, Northern Samar.
The administration has also constructed several school buildings, day care centers and health centers in different parts of the region. Also provided in rural communities were water systems and irrigation systems.
“There are many things that could be called as legacy of her administration, but…the infra projects in the region are her biggest legacy,” Nierras said, referring to President Arroyo.
The Arroyo administration has also provided health, education and livelihood assistance, among others, to many poor people in the region. (VEN LABRO)
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