Kennon Road to open for limited use as rehab continues

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Kennon Road will be opened—but for residents only, and worse, temporarily too—while rehabilitation projects are ongoing.

The decision to open the scenic and historic road was reached by the members of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council during an inter-agency consultative meeting amidst howls about the extreme traffic congestion ON Marcos Highway and demands of residents along Kennon to ease their suffering.

The Regional Development Council and the Regional Peace and Order Council earlier also prodded the regional office of the Public Works department to fast track the opening of the road.

The RDRRMC has authorized Tuba Mayor Ignacio Rivera to issue temporary passage permits to the residents who will be allowed to pass through Kennon pending the outcome of inspections to determine the deployment of a sufficient number of police personnel along the road, the installation of appropriate early warning signages and the deployment of enough emergency vehicles in strategic portions of the highway.

Results of the inspection will serve as a basis to officially open Kennon to residents' vehicles.

DPWH CAR however requires a MOA to be inked between Tuba municipal officials led by Mayor Ignacio Rivera, barangay officials, representatives of law enforcement and government agencies stating their commitments in ensuring that only the vehicles of residents of barangays along the roadline will be allowed temporary access to Kennon Road.

Further, around 10 public utility jeepneys serving the route Baguio to Pozzorubio and Baguio-Rosario via Kennon Road will be allowed to pass through, provided that they will only pick up passengers in the boundary of Benguet and La Union and vice versa.

Local governments are also allowed to submit a list of official vehicles used for emergency and disaster response to the RDRRMC for the issuance of temporary vehicle passes.

Irked, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, chairman of the RDC and the RPOC, said DPWH-CAR has a lot of explaining to do with the prolonged closure of the road and lambasted at officials who had remained unmoved by the pleas of residents along Kennon Road, which was closed in September due to landslides and typhoon damage.