The wait continues ...

The end is here … this segment of the Larap road at Purok 8 in Spurline (Larap) is the tip of the concreted stretch that began from Parang. It finally reached this area last July. There are two kilometers more between this spot and the center of Larap left for concreting, which is expected to resume in January 2014. The estimated cost of K20 million to cement this segment will be funded by an allocation from the Department of Tourism under the General Appropriations Act. Although the money was worked out by Mambulao Mayor Ricarte “Dong” Padilla, the five-month road job will be carried out by the CamNorte provincial government and not the local government. – MWBuzzpic by SAMUEL P HERNANDEZ

Padilla: Parang bridge will be done this month

Men and machine at work on the bridge project site last Friday. – Photo courtesy of FRANCISCO ESPINAR RADA/Facebook

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

MAMBULAO Mayor Ricarte “Dong” Padilla has assured the completion of the Parang bridge project on the third week of this month.

Padilla was reacting yesterday to postings on Facebook group Jose Panganiban Camarines Norte expressing relief to see that the bridge project is going in full swing.

In a post message, he said: “Para po sa kaalaman ng lahat, ang tulay po natin ay matatapos bago mag 20 September 2013, at ito po ay magagamit na bago mag fiesta 7 October 2013. 

Maraming salamat po sa inyong suporta at pang-unawa...” 

Padilla’s completion target date is about three weeks into the Mambulao town fiesta on October 6-7.

A picture posted by Francisco Espinar Rada, who was in Mambulao last week showed men and equipment while at work at the bridge’s project site.

Mambulaoan Rechilda Flores, said in her post: Wow! That’s a good start! God bless my town!((:”

Since the bridge was closed to traffic last February 19, commuters , commuters from Parang have been forced to take a long route going to town and vice versa via the Larap-Plaridel roads and to pay a higher fare.

The bridge costs P22 million to build, with P20 million of the funding coming from the President’s bridge program.

The bridge connects Baranggay Parang to the town proper.

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Mambulao received P66.3 million in pork

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

A TOTAL of P66.3 million in pork barrel funding went to various infrastructure projects and socio-economic program in Mambulao during the years 2010-12, courtesy of the CamNorte provincial government.

This was revealed by the figures obtained by online news MWBuzz from the office of Governor Edgardo “Egay” Tallado.

Tallado said in a brief note that he sought the pork barrel funding from senators and congressmen during the past three years of his term that began in 2010.

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was the only Senate member mentioned in the report, who gave away P7 million to fund seven farm-to-market roads.

These FMR projects are in: 1) Bagong Bayan – P1 million; 2) Plaridel– P1 million; 3) Osmena– P1 million; 4) San Isidro – P1 million; 5) Sta Rosa Nore – P1 million; 6) Luklukan Sur – P1 million; and Luklukan Norte – P1 million.

One major road concreting project – the 2.8km Sta Rosa-San Rafael road – received a P20 million from the pork barrel of President Noynoy Aquino under the Office of the Presidential Affairs on Peace Process (OPAPP)

OPAPP also funded the concreting of the San Isidro-Sta Cruz FMR at a cost of P7 million.

In Parang, a 75m long seawall was being built at a cost of P4.9 million along the beach to protect the squatter shanties from surging waves during typhoons.

The first segment was completed last February and the second segment was to start shortly.

In 2011, the provincial government asphalted a 2,520m road linking Sta Rosa Norte and San Rafael for P10.9 million.

Pork barrel funding of P3.35 million also went to the rehabilitation of a washed out culvert concrete pipe and spillway in Barangay San Martin.

The Rural Health Unit in Mambulao was renovated and extended in 2011for P2.3 million.

In Barangay Motherlode, an evacuation center was built at a cost of P2.5 million.

Five covered courts were built for P5.7 million in baranggays Larap (P2.5 million), Dayhagan (P500,000), Jose Panganiban Elementary School South Poblacion (P700,000), Sta Rosa (P1 million), and Calero (P1 million).

In Sta Elena, a Senior Citizen’s hall was built for P500,000.

Aside from major public works, the provincial government also channeled a total of P2.45 million in pork money to assist barangay schools and various civic organizations during the three-year period from 2010.

Fire hydrants for South Poblacion were purchased by the provincial government at a cost of P59,504.

Tallado said he opted not to rely on the 20 percent development fund of the provincial government and instead sought funding assistance from the Office of the President, senators and congressmen.

The report also revealed that during the 2012-13 period it also spent a total of P93 million for concrete road building projects covering 12.65km in five baranggays that included San Rafael-Sta Rosa Norte FMR (2.55km); Tamisan FMR (2.55km); San Pedro FMR (2.86km); San Martin FMR (2.7km); and Tamisan-Sitio Pinoy, Kisahan-Sta Cruz FMR (2km).

However, the money for these on-going projects was not pork barrel fund but allocation from the Agrarian Reform Community Projects 2 of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture has funded the concrete FMR project at Pag-asa at a cost of P5.5 million covering 690m and another FMR at Sta Cruz, also concrete, worth P5.5 million covering 650m.

The provincial government said that the P93 million road funding was allocated under the General Appropriations Act.

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Mambulao tree-planting tops 100,000 mark

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

THE tree-planting program in Mambulao has topped the 100,000-tree mark.

The 100,000^th seedling was planted on Saturday, August 24, at Baranggay Pag-asa, where the program debuted last July 21.

The tree-planters returned to Pag-asa on Saturday and transplanted a total of 5,400 bakawan trees, thus sealing the first 100,000 trees, or 10 percent, of the one million trees targeted over the next three years and covering about 2,000 hectares of denuded mangrove areas and forests.

A day before, on August 23, about 70 families at Baranggay Salvacion went out to plant a total of 35,000 trees, with each family accounting for 5,000 young trees.

It was the biggest number of young tress planted in a single day.

Sangguniang Bayan Kagawad Artem Andaya, praised the total cooperation of the Salvacion tree-planters.

He said the Baranggay Salvacion families came in full force and delivered 35,000 trees in one day.

On Monday, the tree-planters returned to Pag-asa for the third time to cover more mangrove areas with 13,300 young bakawan.

With this, the program has now hit the 113,300 tree-mark since July 21.

The activity in Pag-asa was spearheaded by the local baranggay led by Punong Baranggay Arnel Espinosa and local  groups such as the SPACFI-ICDP Partner Families, YES-O of Pag-asa Elementary School, the local unit of the Philippine National Police (PNG) and Bantay-Dagat-Mambulao.

Andaya, who is the prime mover of the tree-planting exercise, told MWBuzz: “It was very inspiring … young and old … even the tribal community of our brothers Kabihug, came forward to plant trees …”

“I am appealing to my fellow Mambulaoans across the globe to help us sustain the tree-planting activities.

“I only costs one peso to raise a tree seedling.

“Sa ngayon po ay nagpapalaki pa tayo ng seedlings for forest trees habang ginagawa ito ay naka focus muna kami sa replanting ng mga mangrove areas …sinasamantala po natin ang panahon ng pamumunga ng mga bakawan ngayong September … ang buto ay ating patutubuin sa nursery.. pag naubos napo ang mga mangrove seedlings… pupunta naman po tayo sa mga denuded mountain forests …”

Recently, the program tapped the Kabihug tribal community for the tree-planting in Sitio Kalibigahu, alongside volunteers from the community where tree-planting was carried out.

Andaya said that the tribal community would become a permanent fixture in the activity.

He said they will try to carry out at least two planting gigs every month, involving students and baranggay residents in the area where tree-planting would take place.

He appealed to Mambulaoans based locally and those overseas to help sustain the program which aims to plant at least 300,000 a year for three years.

Mayor Ricarte (Dong) Padilla said that the local government seeks to replant the municipality’s mangrove areas to encourage the return of marine life to Mambulao Bay.

He said:  "We have more or less 44,000 hectares of territorial waters at Jose Panganiban, and ideally 30% of that area should be covered by mangroves so that reproduction process of our marine resources are not hindered … wala pa po sa 10% ang mangrove areas natin kaya ito po ang isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit mahina na ang huli ng ating mga mangingisda ... this may be ambitious dream, but I know we can do it! Together we can bring back a greener and cleaner Mambulao...."

Padilla hopes to cover the targeted 2,000 hectares before his second term ends in 2016.

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‘Kariton’ livelihood recipients ‘doing well’

THE good news is that the 10 families involved in the “kariton” livelihood project of the Mambulao local government are doing well.

All of them are regularly repaying the loan of P2,000 they obtained under the project, which means they are making good sales every day.

And they are making at the least P150 from a half-day work, to a high of P450 working whole day.

Cynthia Canoy, the coordinator for the Sulong Pangkabuhayan sa Kariton, a livelihood project launched by the local government recently, said the second batch of 10 recipients are undergoing screening.

They will be launched soon, she said.

“We made a visit of the first batch recipients and learned from them they are doing well,” she added.

“May ilan na pong nakatapos magbayad ng loan nila,” according to Canoy.

“May mga araw na mahina ang tinda, pero sinisikap nilang tuloy-tuloy ang negosyo,” she said, referring to their food-vending business, which they carry out through a push cart lent to them by the LGU.

Each of the recipients has been assigned an area where he/she should do the selling to avoid competition.

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