BAGUIO CITY, Philippines– A road project that connects Abra to Mountain Province has been completed.
The 16.502 kilometer-road from Barangay Tamboan in Besao town in Mountain Province to Dilong in Tubo, Abra was opened to the public recently.
A seven-kilometer portion of the road was opened in 2013 while a 4.067 kilometer-stretch was completed in 2015.
The road will shorten travel time via the Bontoc-Cervantes- Quirino Road and the Halsema – Baguio-La Union-Tirad Pass Road.
“More importantly, these road projects have connected families and communities. No one can peg monetary value to that connectivity,” said Marlo Iringan, director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
The project, which is worth P144 million, which was funded under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan program or Pamana started in 2013.
Pamana extends development interventions to isolated, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities. Communist insurgents reportedly infiltrated the area because of its inaccessibility.
Pamana has completed 42 of the 70 projects in the Cordilleras amounting to P772.3 million since 2012.