SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique: The mayor of the municipality of San Remigio asked the anti-communist task force for a PHP50-million budget to fund its road project that could address the insurgency problem.
In an interview Thursday, Mayor Margarito Mission Jr. said the local government needs additional funds to finish the road project that started two years ago.
The town of San Remigio was one of the two town recipients of PHP20 million road project identified by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in 2020.
“The PHP20 million funding from the NTF-ELCAC and the additional PHP5 million by the Antique provincial government, however, was not enough to reach Barangay Bulan-bulan,” Mission said.
The mayor said the project was supposed to reach Barangay Bulan-bulan but the funding had only reached Sitio Gahit in Barangay Osorio II, where government operatives and New People’s Army rebels had an encounter on Dec. 11 were two policemen were wounded.
Bulan-bulan is about 4 kilometers away from Barangay Aningalan Proper, the last paved road from San Remigio town proper.
Since the fund was not enough, the project was reduced to a half-lane just enough for single motorcycles to pass.
The mayor said he was hopeful that NTF-ELCAC would heed his call so the road project could provide access for the people to transport and sell their agricultural products.
This could also help the children to continue their schooling at the nearest Aningalan Integrated Farm School in Barangay Aningalan Proper.
“I then believe that insurgency begins where the road ends,” Mission said
Source: Philippines News Agency