March 29, 2024

Concerned residents are requesting ranking officials of Benguet led by Rep. Eric Yap to intervene in the fast-tracking of the construction of the outer ring of the BLISTT circumferential road in Sablan.
The request was aired Friday by some concerned residents after the operation of Phesco Construction, one of the contractors doing road projects at Bayabas, Sablan, was crippled after Mayor Alfredo Dacumos, Jr. issued a closure order on its mobile batching plant at Sitio Monglo.
Among the reasons cited in the issuance of the closure order were due to noise pollution and concrete dusts being spewed in the air in mixing its product.
Phelco Construction legal counsel Edward Raymund Palsiw told reporters his client was deprived of due process when it was not given a notice of violation from the municipal government for it to reply.
Palsiw added many residents where the mobile batching plant is located have given conformity to its operation, adding the company has secured a certificate of non-coverage from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
To recall, former Sablan mayor Manuel Munar, Jr. also issued a cease and desist order against the operation of the mobile batching plant soon after the May 2022 elections, which the company has contested for lack of due process.
Palsiw also shared there is no court order stopping his client from operating its mobile batching plant, adding Phelco has secured other requirements from the DENR.
His clients also complied with the advice from the municipal government by increasing the height of the barriers surrounding the batching plant.
More than 30 individuals claiming to be residents near the batching plant also signed a letter addressed to Dacumos stating among others that the operation of the batching plant does not directly affect their health.
“We are in favor of its operation to fast-track the construction of the Bayabas, Sablan circumferential road to ease the long-time concerns of residents regarding the road,” reads the letter of the residents to the mayor.
Palsiw said Phelco might consider filing cases against town officials for the orders that deprived the company of due process.
A source said Dacumos has said Phelco was properly informed of its supposed violations that caused his office to issue the closure order.
The BLISTT outer circumferential ring aims to provide alternative routes to ease congestion in La Trinidad and Baguio City. 
Among the ongoing road projects sections are the Asin-Nangalisan junction-Bayabas-Monglo junction; the Kamog junction-Pappa-Bagong Balluay-Tuel junction; sections 4A and 4B of the Bokod-Labey-Lacamen provincial road; and the Taloy Norte junction-San Pascual barangay hall junction. – Harley F. Palangchao