ILOILO – Ten far-flung barangays of the municipality of Janiuay will benefit from the concreting of the 14.2-kilometer Bongol-Tambal-Quipot Provincial Road.
These villages are Bongol, Tambal, Caraudan, Kuyot, Yabon, Ubian, Quipot, Barasalon, Canauilian, and Atimonan. They have a combined population of 14,795 people or 2,782 households.
The concreting – a project of the provincial government and Department of Agriculture (DA) – started on Aug. 15. Target date of completion is September 2020.
“Never in my five decades of stay in Quipot have I imagined that our road will be concreted,”saidMarilyn Adurante, former teacher of Barangay Quipot.
Traveling is a struggle especially during rainy season, revealed Adurante.
Barangay Quipot is some 16 kilometers from the town proper.
The road concreting project includes two bridges. Total project cost is P195.944 million.
The bulk (80 percent or P156,755,624.90) of the project cost is being shouldered by the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) of the DA. The Iloilo provincial government and municipal government of Janiuay shoulder the 10-percent counterpart funding (P19,594,453.11 each).
PRDP is a special project of DA supported by World Bank.
“Nami ‘ni nga project kay ang provincial government indi man makasarang magpa-concrete sang provincial road so we have to rely on national government programs,” said Gov. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr.
The Bongol-Tambal-Quipot Provincial Road concreting is a legacy project of his father, former governor Arthur Defensor Sr.
“When PRDP came, I made sure to include Janiuay,” said the elder Defensor, noting that those from Barangay Quipot have to pass Suage River six times to reach the town proper.
Barangay Captain Joan Rendaje of Bongol said the project, when completed, would end their ordeal – dusty road when it is sunny and mud road when it is rainy.
Barangay Bongol has 468 households.
Rendaje also said the transport of goods from their village to the town center would be more efficient.
Rice and vegetable farming and animal raising are the main livelihood of the people of Bararangay Bongol.
“Nagapasalamat gid kami kay once ma-complete na ang pag-concrete basi magnubo ang plete kag madali na makapa-city ukon Super (Iloilo Terminal Market) kay maayo na ang dalan,” said Barangay Captain Rodolfo Superio of Yabon.
His constituents, he said, pay P70 for a one-way trip to the town proper via motorcycle./PN
