LUBA, Abra – Farmers and residents of Barangay Lul-luno, this town will soon benefit from the upgrading of a farm-to-market road.
The Cuda-Caocaoayan FMR project is under the Support to Barangay Development Program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
“With this road, we will have smoother and easier means to transport our products to sell in Candon or Bangued,” said outgoing Punong Barangay Rosario Gayyed during the project’s groundbreaking.
Gayyed expressed his gratitude for the project awarded to the barangay, which is one of the poorest barangays of Luba, a fifth class municipality.
“We are lucky because this is the first project that reached our barangay since 2010,” he added.
The 450-linear meter project, which costs more than P6 million, was identified as a priority need by the community during the Retooled Community Support Program activities conducted by the Philippine Army.
It is among the government’s steps towards ending communist insurgency and promoting progress in far-flung and conflict-affected areas in the country.
“When there is a road, insurgency ends. Sana tuloy-tuloy po ‘yung pagiging peaceful po dito sa barangay natin,” said Staff Sgt. Rafael Dubduban, Civil Military Operations officer of the 24th Infantry Battalion.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government-Abra, which serves as the secretariat of the Provincial TF-Elcac, urged the community to continue to participate in monitoring the construction of the project to ensure the quality of the road.
“Let us continue to monitor the implementation of this project. We partner with the community together with the contractor in the monitoring and implementation of this project,” DILG-Abra Director Daisy Payang said.
Road widening, concreting, and installation of drainage, and slope protection works are expected to be finished within 41 calendar days.
Member agencies of the Provincial TF-Elcac such as the departments of Agriculture, Labor and Employment, and Information and Communications Technology and Philippine National Police, also shared their programs and services that will benefit the community.
Barangay Lul-luno is more than two hours away from the capital town of Bangued and can be reached through a ferry boat at the Tumbal River since the bridge connecting the towns of Manabo and Luba is still under construction. – Jamie Joie Malingan
