By: Magtanggol C. Vilar
CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, March (PNA) — A vital road network that was cited by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (WB-ADB) in 1999 as a “show case of development for all local governments” appears to be getting its just rewards after slumbering for 12 years now.
This city and the adjacent municipality of Sta. Rosa have recently entered into a historic partnership in local governance by continuing on with the concreting of a vital link to the much-awaited completion of the Cesar Angeles Road, linking this city and Sta. Rosa near the fringes of Barangay Tabuating in San Leonardo.
A six-page memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by Cabanatuan City Mayor Julius Cesar V. Vergara and Sta. Rosa Mayor Josefino M. Angeles is considered as historic as that said road network, begun in 1999 was the first joint venture amicably entered into by three local government units: the city government of Cabanatuan, then represented by City Mayor Vergara, the provincial government of Nueva Ecija, then represented by Gov. Tomas N. Joson; and the municipal government of Sta. Rosa, then represented by Mayor Marlon Marcelo.
Vergara and Angeles have justified their joint actions under the provisions of Article 10, Section 13 of the Philippine Constitution which provides that “local government units may group themselves, consolidate, or coordinate their efforts, services, and resources for purposes commonly beneficial to them in accordance with law.”
Likewise, Section 16 of the Local Government Code where it is declared under the General Welfare clause states that : “every local government unit shall exercise the powers expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for its efficient and effective governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare.
The four-plus-kilometer road portion of the Cesar Angeles Road will serve an efficient alternate road to the Maharlika Highway which intersects the busy portion of the Nueva Ecija-Tarlac Road right at the center of the town of Sta. Rosa.
For years now, this vital road artery has been serving as a chokepoint to the Manila-Cagayan Valley traffic, with this highway as the gateway to the Cagayan Valley.
For about almost a decade now, this situation at the Nueva Ecija-Tarlac Road has not gained any nod from the provincial and public highways to plan any alternate route.
Now, however, there appears to be “a clear light in the tunnel,” as current Mayor Angeles had commented referring to the Vergara-Angeles effort.
Felicitas D. Belardo, head of the Sta. Rosa Municipal Planning and Development Office (MPDO), quoted the length of the road at about 4.7 kilometers, and is a two-lane affair.
According to City Engineer Lauro J. Pangilinan, construction work starts at the northern portion of the Minatula Bridge along the Emilio Vergara Highway in Barangay Sumacab Este touching on the Barangay of Soledad, at the edge of Fort Magsaysay Road in Sta. Rosa and on to Barangay Luna near the border of San Leonardo town at Barangay Tabuating in the south.
The construction would take about two months to finish and hopes to draw positive reaction from other well-off LGUs to extend assistance of whatever nature to their less-endowed fellow government units.
Started way back in 1999, the idea was broached by Mayor Vergara and accepted without objection by the other parties “all in the interest of the public welfare.”
The parties are one in saying that improving this alternate road is expected to alleviate traffic congestion obtaining along the stretch of the Maharlika Highway-Sta. Rosa-Tarlac Road which has served to create monstrous traffic congestions that contribute to the slow-down of economic progress in the area.
Also severely affected are commercial products carried by public and private transports that pass through the Maharlika Highway on their way to and from the Cagayan Valley provinces.
Way back in 1999, this road project was cited by a high-level joint mission from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a “show case of development for all local governments for its stellar performance in the implementation of various sectoral development projects.”
The WB-ADB team, headed by WB Senior Public Sector Manager Amitabha Mukherjee, Senior Public Sector Management Specialist, and Xuelin Liu, Country Economist of the ADB Philippine Country Office, conferred the recognition on the city government, represented by Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara on Dec. 4, 2001.
The WB-ADB team has recommended that “other LGUS adopt the Vergara administration’s capability-building strategies and its policies.”
However, the project ended abruptly due to politics, the exact reason parties avoided to divulge at the moment.
Then as of now, the project was conceptualized in the same spirit of Filipino volunteerism hailed as “Balikatan” and “Bayanihan.”
This writer took the pains of tracing the step of the way to the municipal hall of Sta. Rosa on March 12. However, only MPDO officer Felicitas Abelardo was available to give us a scant detail on the program of work.
The soon-to-be finished vital link from a highly-developed city to a rising municipality appears to be a busy thoroughfare as witnessed by several trucks, delivery vans and even flashy cars making their way through dust-filled rough-road – but travelable somehow – travel trip of which lasts about five to 15 minutes leisurely travel.
The side of the highway on the part of Cabanatuan is well-paved with the Minatula Bridge standing proud as witness to the developing link-up road to progress.
The travel from the Barangay Soledad side of the road wends through the St. Nicholas de Tolentine Basilica at the high-end Lakewood City subdivision, in Sumacab Este, which connects to the Emilio Vergara Road. (PNA)