TADIAN, Mountain Province – The municipal council recently declared the town under a state of calamity following the enormous damage inflicted by Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon to the lives of people in the different parts of the locality.
The declaration was made upon the recommendation of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) chaired by Mayor Constito Masweng after assessing the damages caused by the weather disturbance in the municipality.
One of the major damages to the town’s infrastructure, according to Masweng, was the more than 20-meter road cut on the barangay road leading to barangay Bantey that caused a similar road cut on the Nacawang to Besao provincial road that rendered the barangay isolated to date.
The municipal chief executive explained that a huge amount of funds will be needed for either the restoration of the twin road cuts inflicted in both the barangay and provincial roads or the re-routing of the heavily damaged barangay road for the convenience of the affected residents in the area.
“Barangay Bantey remains isolated to date that is why we are trying our best to access whatever available funding support from the concerned government agencies to be able to construct the road leading to the said area. We are hoping that concerned government agencies will be able to provide the needed funds for the re-routing of the road,” Mayor Masweng stressed.
He claimed that the collapsed barangay road that caused the road cut on the provincial road has not yet been cleared because of the alleged difficulty in the implementation of the clearing operations due to the instability of the mountain slope that might endanger the safety of people who will be working on the said clearing of the debris.
According to him, the municipal government is awaiting action from the Cordillera Region Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on the proposal submitted earlier to ensure the construction of the road leading to barangay Bantey to ensure the access of both barangay residents and outsiders to and from the barangay.
Masweng expressed his gratitude to the members of the municipal council and the MDRRMC for their timely approval of the request for the declaration of the municipality under a state of calamity to allow the municipal government to access available funding support from concerned government agencies to prevent residents of barangay Bantey from being isolated for a long period of time.
Tadian is a fourth class municipality in western Mountain Province that heavily relies on its share from the government’s national tax allocation to fund the annual budget of the local government, thus, it needs the full support of concerned government agencies to bankroll the implementation of high impact development projects that will spur the economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people.
Masweng, who is serving his second term as the town’s local chief executive, said that the municipal government is doing its best to access whatever available funding support from both the government and the private sector to compliment the programs, projects and activities that have been included in the available budget of the municipality. By Dexter A. See
