CAR execs ask Duterte to fund road projects, Loakan airport modernization

LEADERS of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) led by the Regional Development Council (RDC) chairman have asked President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during their meeting at Malacañan Palace to consider the implementation of the Cordillera Roads Infrastructure Program (CRIP) and the modernization of the Loakan airport as an urgent project.

Baguio City Mayor and RDC Chairman Mauricio Domogan relayed this in a late Wednesday press briefing where he also said he told the President there are still 133.3 kilometers of national and local roads to be paved in the region.

“More or less 98 kilometers of these are national roads and 44.8 are local roads,” he said.

Domogan said he told the President the implementation of the CRIP project is needed to fast-track the development of the region.

“We asked the President to kindly direct the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Mark Villar and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary to continue to give funding for the projects,” he said.

Domogan said some of the CRIP projects are already

funded for 2018, and these are located in Apayao but those which were not yet funded are the ones requested to be included as priority projects.

The mayor relayed prior to the meeting with President Duterte on Tuesday evening, they met with the Cabinet secretaries present in Malacañan, including Villar, who said he will consider the request of the RDC chairman as a priority.

“He said they will consider the request during the budget hearing next year,” Domogan said.

Aside from the CRIP project, the RDC chairman also asked the President to consider the modernization of the Loakan airport in Baguio, which will need some P402 million.

“The modernization of the airport is long overdue considering it is the gateway to the Cordillera specially to the city of Pines, Benguet and Mountain Province where the top tourist destinations in the region are located,” Domogan said during the Wednesday press briefing.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), which contributes to the Gross Domestic Product of the country, likewise needs the airport for the transport of raw materials and in bringing the finished products to the different sea and airports for export.

Furthermore, the mayor explained that there is a need to improve the state of local roads to pave the way for the expanding telecommunications and electrification coverage.

Domogan led the Cordillera Administrative Region delegates composed of 120 RDC officers, governors, congressmen and mayors in Malacañan Palace to ask for President Duterte’s support to the Cordillera autonomy and for the inclusion of the same in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24. PNA