DAVAO ORIENTAL – Newly completed infrastructure projects are creating huge impacts in the lives of the residents of four remote villages in Boston town.
Among these infrastructure projects is the P100 million 3.7-kilometer concrete farm-to-market road traversing three villages, namely: San Jose, Simulao, and Caatihan. This road project comes with a 60-meter concrete linear bridge component. Another project is a P1.5 million level-two potable water system in Barangay Cawayanan.
First District Representative Corazon N. Malanayaon, who initiated these projects in 2015 during her stint as Governor of the province, led the turnover ceremony of these two projects touted to ease residents’ mode of transportation and provide them access to safe drinking water.
Funded by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) through the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana) Program under the 2015 budget, these projects are among the government’s interventions to address issues on peace and development in the communities, especially those that are vulnerable to insurgency.
Oliver Binancilan, OPAPP Area Manager, said the Pamana program has been implemented as the government recognizes that the lack of adequate infrastructure such as roads, water systems, and bridges, among others, has long been identified as one of the bottlenecks in achieving sustainable development in many communities. Binancilan said that these projects have a big contribution in aiding the peace efforts, adding that infrastructure paves way for increased prosperity and reduce armed conflict and insurgency.
Previously identified by the Philippine Army as conflict-affected areas, the villages of San Jose and Cawayanan are among the areas here that were prioritized to become recipient to community-changing infrastructure projects in the hope to address the existing gaps that are often barriers to peace and development.
Rep. Malanyaon recognized the role of all involved agencies in the implementation of the projects including the local government units for their support. “These projects are the product of convergence,” she said. “While the national government funded these projects, it would not have been successfully pushed through without the recommendation of the Philippine Army, the technical assistance from the DILG, funding support of the OPAPP, and the initiative and support of the local government. It only proves that if all stakeholders work together, anything can be possible,” she added.
DILG Regional Director Alex Roldan congratulated the residents of Boston for being recipients of the new projects. He stressed his astonishment of Davao Oriental’s development since the province was struck by typhoon Pablo in 2012. “You are very lucky to have a beautiful place,” he said, noting the province’s equally good governance that helped it fully recover. He encouraged residents to support the province’s long-lasting peace by supporting the government’s development programs.
A DREAM-COME-TRUE
Overwhelmed residents of the two villages expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Provincial Government and its partners for giving them these projects, which they say as a “dream-come-true” for them. By Karen Lou Delos/Photo by Eden Jhan Licayan
