RECENTLY, Mambulao Mayor Ricarte “Dong” Padila announced that the
remaining portion of the Larap road to be cemented has received a government
funding.
The money will come from the Department of Tourism through the
General Appropriationss Act and for release by this November.
Under the present costing set by the DPWH and the contractors, a
kilometer of concrete road costs P10 million to build.
Therefore, the remaining two kilometers of rough road leading to
the center of Larap from Purok 8 at the Spurline will cost P20 million.
Since the road project is worth more than P5 million, it would be
handled by the provincial government and not the Mambulao government.
Under the rules, projects with national government funding of more
than P5 million will be coursed through the provincial government, who will do
the job.
Padilla said that most likely, the concreting of the remaining
two-kilometer road could begin by January, lasting at least five months.
With this, we can safely assume that this stretch would be
competed by May - about nine months from now.
The call for the concreting of the remaining segment of the Larap
road earlier spurred the LaPIMA to urge its members elsewhere in the
Philippines and overseas to contribute to the job by donating bags of cement.
LaPIMA is an association of the children of families who benefited
from the mining operations by the Philippine Iron Mines (PIM) in Larap until
the middle of 1970.
In an email message to LaPIMA, Padilla said: “The cementing from
Spurline to Larap proper will resume between December (2013)-January next year
and would be completed in 120-130 days.
“So I request everybody to
sympathize with the LGU and give a little more patience while we are exhausting
all possible means to complete the ‘century dream project’ of Mambulao.”
With this, LaPIMA has advised its members they could forget
sending their donation since there is going to be money for the remaining
stretch of the road.
Which could also be interpreted as: Forget about those roads
outside of Larap.
Likewise, Padilla has implied that work on the Larap road project
would stop at the end of the cemented segment – at Spurline – and activities
would pick up again in January, some five months away.
Why is that?
If this is so, what about those in baranggays away from Mambulao
poblacion that needed to be fixed – do they have to wait much longer too?
We should realize by now that the bulk of the road building
materials that went into the Parang-Larap project up to Purok 8 at Spurline came
from various sources, such as donations from Mambulaoans (not from Larap) and
those friendly supporters who included certain private groups and private
companies.
Only a bucket of this came from Lapima, who donated the stuff in
2012 to coincide with the grand alumni homecoming of the Jose Panganiban
National High school (JPNHS).
And now it has stopped donations from its members, as if it did
not want them to go into other projects – as in roads in Santa Elena or Luklukan
Sur, Salvacion or San Pedro -- other than those that should be fixed within
Larap.
Has LaPIMA gone parochial like what Larap was during its heydays?
When Padilla appealed for help in building most of Mambulao’s
81kilometers of roads, he specifically asked for cement.
Each bag of donated cement will go into a pool of road building
materials and will assume no distinction as to where it came from, or who
donated it.
And it would go into the roads that needed fixing until it is
exhausted.
In other words, the donated bags of cement will go to where they
are needed.
This has been the scheme of things since the road concreting in
Mambulao has been launched in July 2010.
And Padilla is trying to carry this out as he has planned it, with
the unceasing support of Mambulaoans in Mambulao and overseas.
There are still roads in other parts of the municipality that need
looking after just like in Larap.
Let’s not forget this.
And yes … your donation of bags of cement is still welcome.
- Alfredo P Hernandez
For feedback, email: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg
and alfredophernandez@y7mail.com
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