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Cordillera execs welcome dev’t projects under GPH-CBA/CPLA closure pact
Bangued, Abra, Aug. 5 - Two governors of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) welcomed the development projects that have been identified under the signed closure agreement between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA) and its political wing, the Cordillera Bodong Administration (CBA).
Governors Eustaquio Bersamin (Abra) and Leonard Mayaen (Mt. Province) expressed appreciation on the projects presented by representatives of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) during the recently held local government unit (LGU) orientations in their provinces.
The orientations sought to present to all Cordillera provinces the development plans enshrined in the GPH-CPLA closure pact. In July, LGU executives in Apayao, Kalinga and Ifugao have been likewise briefed with the same agenda.
Community projects to benefit people
Bersamin aired “100% support” on the implementation of the closure agreement.
“What benefits the people is welcome here in Abra,” the governor said during OPAPP’s visit.
About P 42 million has been allocated for the province’s community development, or 93% of the total funding earmarked for Abra’s CPLA members.
Beneficiary communities include seven barangays in the municipalities of Licuan Baay, Luba, Manabo, Bucloc and San Isidro.
Proposed projects are construction of potable water system and improvement of farm-to-market roads and irrigation canals.
In Mountain Province, the governor, municipal mayors, barangay officials and other members of the provincial government also expressed support for the development projects presented, as well as the CPLA’s transformation into an economic organization.
Forty-seven million pesos worth of community development projects and P 21 million worth of inter-municipal and inter-barangay projects will go to Mountain Province. Benefitting from the closure agreement’s five-year implementation are CPLA communities in Paracelis, Bontoc and Sadanga towns.
The projects identified are subject to community validation. A series of barangay consultations is scheduled in August and September for said purpose.
