TINEG, Abra – Development is slowly reaching this remote municipality following the lighting of sitio Vera, one of the remotest villages in barangay Alaoa here.
Rep. Ma. Jocelyn V. Bernos and Tineg Mayor Corinthia D. Crisologo switched the light at sitio Vira during the inaugural lighting ceremony heldrecently in order to help bring electricity of the countryside as the government’s intervention in the implementation of the rural electrification program.
Crisologo expressed her gratitude in behalf of the people of sitio Vera for the lighting of their place after several decades of being in the dark which she described as a dream come true for the hundreds of the people living in the area.
“Many of the people of Tineg never had a chance to see electric light in their home or experience the benefits of electricity because the entire municipality is an off-grid community that is why the lighting of sitio Vera is a breakthrough in efforts to electrify the different remote communities,” Mayor Crisologo stressed.
Richard Tuzon, Institutional Development Officer of the Abra Electric Cooperative (ABRECO) who represented General Manager Loreto P. Seares, Jr., said this project had been implemented earlier than it was programmed for funding in the list of priority projects by the House of Representatives under the Sitio Electrification Project (SEP) of the National Electrification Administration due to the insistence of Crisologo in following up and in submitting the documents required.
The SEP project is now integrated in the Barangay Line Enhancement Program (BLEP) which passes through the prioritization of projects funded by the House of Representatives, Bernos explained.
The switch-on was graced by representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government , Philippine Information Agency, the Abra Police Provincial Office, 50th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, local media and the Philippine Red Cross; Mayor Dominic B. Valera of Bangued and Mayor Joseph Sto. Nino Bernos of La Paz and Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Floro Fontanilla, who represented Governor Eustaquio P. Bersamin.
Fontanilla reiterated the governor’s continuing support to the municipality. It must be noted that Bersamin pushed for the concreting of roads to Tineg and he also donated a lot where residents from interior barangays can build their houses so they would not be hard-up when travelling outside the municipality.
As it is, because of lack of roads in the barangays, residents have to hike for hours or days to reach sitio Vira where they could take a ride to other towns. Sometimes people just make tents along the to spend the night before taking on another day of travel.
Sitio Vira is the gateway to the long neglected Tineg town. It currently serves as the town center where the new municipal government center and rural health unit are being constructed. Dr. Severina Ella Ortega of the Doctor to the Barrios from the Department of Health also holds office here.
Barangay Agsimao, the poblacion, is about one day hike from sitio Vira.
Bersamin said the government must continue investing for the development of the remotest town in the province in order to bring growth in the countryside. By Dexter A. See