MANKAYAN, Benguet – Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap recently filed House Bill (HB) 7561 that seeks to convert the Tubo junction in Barangay Sapid to Sayapot junction in Barangay Balili, this town, to a secondary national road and providing funds for the said purpose.
Yap, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, stated that the Public Works Secretary shall include in the agency’s program the improvement, repair and maintenance of the said road, the funding of which shall be included in the annual general appropriations of the government.
The Tubo junction in Barangay Sapid to Sayapot in Barangay Balili is a 10 kilometer provincial road and classified as a farm to market dirt road extensively used by thousands of farmers living in the various communities traversed by the said roadline. The said provincial road starts at the junction in Tubo along the Abatan-Mankayan-Cervantes national road and traverses Barangay Tabio and ends in Sayapot in Barangay Balili leading to Mankingao to Am-am tourism road that was previously funded by the convergence project of the tourism and public departments on enhanced tourism access program.
Yap claimed that as a provincial road, the development of the same has been limited to what the local government can appropriate annually to ensure the proper maintenance of the roadline and that its development has not been substantial through the years.
He pointed out that his bill seeks to convert the aforesaid roadline to a secondary national road to help bring essential promotion of the general welfare of the people of the municipality and its adjacent municipalities in the nearby provinces as it will enhance trade and commerce, agriculture and tourism industry not only in the cordillera but also in the different parts of Northern Luzon.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong expressed the gratitude of the people and officialdom of the municipality to Congressman Yap for taking the cudgels of initiating the conversion of the aforesaid roadline to a secondary national road so that the provincial and municipal governments will be freed from allocating substantial funds annually for the improvement and maintenance of the road to ensure that it will always be open to allow farmers to be able to transport their produce from their farms to the nearest markets.
He stipulated that with the impending conversion of the road to a secondary national road, there will be an assurance that the rehabilitation, upgrading and concreting of the same will be pursued that will improve the status of the road and contribute in efforts of the government to ensure that there will be unnecessary delays in the transport of agricultural produce from the farms to the markets not only in the province but also the local governments in the different parts of Northern Luzon.
Ayong stipulated that the local government fully supports the initiative of Congressman Yap with the high hopes that the bill will be immediately acted upon so that the development of the roadline will start soonest for the benefit of the agriculture industry stakeholders that will benefit from the projects that will be implemented in the areas traversed by the road. By HENT
