New hopes
Last Friday, 26 May, 4Ps Partylist Rep. and House Minority Floor Leader Marcelino Libanan led the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction and opening of the Maslog-Jipapad Road Project.
The DPWH regional office, which is the implementing unit, awarded a P100-million contract on Thursday for the 1.5735-lane kilometer road concreting, which is a portion of the road section of the 21-kilometer distance from Maslog to Jipapad.
Libanan promised to work hard for the allocation of additional funds to complete the funding for the entire project within the term of the present administration.
Maslog Mayor Heracleo Santiago said he is confident that road projects that will finally connect his town to the national highway will be realized under the present administration. He said these projects are long overdue, as he expressed optimism this will bring development to his town.
“There may only be a few voters here but development must also be done here if only to have peace and order in our province,” Santiago said.
Santiago said that for some time, the interior and contiguous towns of Maslog, Jipapad, San Jose de Buan (Samar) and Las Navas (Northern Samar) formed the mass base of the During the Community Support Program of the Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in three villages of Maslog, the issues of lack of access to education and other basic services came out as the primary reason why the people supported the communist movement.
“There was a great distance between the government and the people,” he said. “These infrastructure projects, especially the roads, will bring the government nearer to the people. They will not only bring development but also peace and order for the whole Eastern Samar province.”
Complete road network
Libanan, who is a staunch political ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said the President has personally mandated him to look into the development projects on the whole of Samar island to ensure the construction of a complete road network on the island.
In February, Libanan also led the groundbreaking and capsule-laying ceremony for the construction of a road from the junction of the national highway in Barangay Carolina to Maslog road (barangays Magsaysay-Magongbong-Gap-ang) section; and the concreting of the Dolores-Maslog road.
The 9.08-kilometer junction national road, which started construction on 4 January 2023, has a budget allocation of P238.5 million, while the concreting of the 2.60-kilometer Dolores-Maslog road project, which was started last 21 December 2022, has a project cost of P95.4 million.
DPWH Eastern Samar District Engineer Alvin Ignacio said that of the 34.3-km road from Junction Carolina to Maslog, 29.73 kms has been completed but most of it needs rehabilitation.
Libanan said that after the Maslog-Jipapad road, the government plans to construct a road from Jipapad to Las Navas in Northern Samar that will cut travel time from Manila to Eastern Samar by over four hours.
“The bigger plan is to make the Las Navas-Jipapad-Maslog-Dolores road network a national highway to lessen the travel time from Manila and hasten the transport of goods to and from the province,” he said.
“I hope that in 5-10 years we will see the rise of more investments that will improve the situation of the people,” he added.