SISON, Pangasinan, July 1 (PNA)–All’s well that ends well between the municipal government of Sison and the Pangasinan provincial government over the excavation of a provincial road by the former sans any permit from the Provincial Engineering Office.
This was after a dialogue conducted Wednesday in Sison, attended by Mayor Mina Pangasinan of Sison and members of her municipal council and Provincial Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued and Fifth District Provincial Board Member Danilo Uy, in behalf of the provincial government.
The dialogue was held as the excavation of the provincial road by the municipality of Sison was put on hold with the issuance by Gov. Amado Espino Jr. of a cease and desist order (CDO) to the project on May 21.
Provincial Legal Officer Baniqued said she wrote the CDO on order of Gov. Espino because while the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sison claimed it wrote a letter to the Provincial Engineering Office seeking permit to the excavation of a provincial road, the latter office actually received such letter on May 19.
Another thing, Baniqued said, was that the excavation of the provincial road already started May 12 or a week before the Sison LGU’s letter reached the Provincial Engineering Office.
Nevertheless, Baniqued agreed to recommend to Gov. Espino to lift the CDO after meeting with Mayor Pangasinan and other concerned residents of the town, who said the excavation was necessary to conform with the designs of a satellite market built in Poblacion Central.
Baniqued said that since some residents of the area were complaining and their gripes reached Governor Espino, the street lights in the area, including the drainage and driveway of home owners, must be returned, which she said, were conditions for the lifting of the CDO.
Residents of Sison pleaded for the lifting of the CDO as the delay in the excavation of the road has brought them and their school children untold sufferings.
Pangasinan, a lawyer, told newsmen that since they received the CDO, work on the road excavation had stopped as they respected the authority of the governor on the matter. She said they would comply to the conditions set for the lifting of CDO.
Pangasinan told newsmen the road excavation work they were doing would soon complement the satellite market that they had built, which was started in 2007 by then Fifth District Congressman Mark Cojuangco sourced out from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
But despite this, the satellite market is still incomplete and yet to be put into operation.
Pangasinan said they would make the satellite market their own public market in the absence of one till today.
She said the market built in 1998 during the term of then Mayor Dionisio Lagmay along the national highway did not click and was being used as offices of different national government agencies based in Sison as well as a livelihood training center. (PNA)