TACLOBAN CITY – Residents of Barangay New Kawayan, a farming village north
of this city, expressed gratitude to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Agrarian Reform
Secretary, Conrado Estrella III, for realizing their long cherished dream, a concrete
road.
On Thursday, May 22 this year, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Eastern
Visayas Regional Director, Atty. Robert Anthony Yu, led the inauguration and turnover
of the 1.4 linear-kilometer Barangay New Kawayan-Sto. Niño farm-to-market road to
the two remote villages for the maintenance.
Yu stressed that construction of farm-to-market roads in remote farming villages
is among the priorities of the Marcos administration and one of the nine point agenda of
Secretary Estrella.
He disclosed that the ₱21-million road project, implemented by the Department
of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), is funded under the agrarian reform fund
(ARF).
Welefortes Bodaña, president of the Barangay 101 Vegetable Farmers
Association shared that this has been their long cherished dream.
She explained that during rainy days before, the entire area becomes very
muddy. One could hardly walk because the mud is up to here, Bodaña added pointing
to her leg, just below the knee.
With the now concreted road, farmers here will no longer carry on their heads
their harvests, or hire somebody to bring them to the check point, where buyers await,
said Bodaña. The buyers, with their vehicles, now come to our farm to pick the
vegetables, she exclaimed.
For Barangay Chairman, Rafael Manhuyod, he sees this project to bring a
significant improvement in the quality of life, not only of the farmers but of all the
residents in this area.
About 289 farmers are expected to benefit from this project. (JOSE ALSMITH
L. SORIA)
