Road soon to open for Sulu villagers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Villages in different towns in Sulu would soon be interconnected by a concrete circumferential road in the island province, a public works official said Wednesday.

The circumferential road, designed to orbit the impoverished mainland Sulu, is now being built by the first and second District Engineering Offices (DEOs) in this island province.

Engineer Don Loong, regional public works secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), on Wednesday said even before the much-awaited road project is accomplished, Sulu residents will have the multi-million Tumantangis-Jolo and Sagay-Sagay water supply facilities ahead, courtesy of the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

The water systems were built by the ARMM government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways, using allocations from the region’s infrastructure subsidy from the national government.

Loong said the downtown of Jolo, capital town of Sulu, had also been made safer by the ARMM government from flashfloods with the completion of a drainage network meant to drain rampaging rain waters into the sea.

The P208.5 million worth drainage system straddles through barangays hit by flashfloods in 2011.

The ongoing circumferential road project, taking off from the first district of Sulu, already interconnected the Maimbung-Panglima Estino and the Patikul-Panamao routes.

The artery also now links the Panglima Estino-Panamao-Kalingalan Caluang; Pitogo-Sucuban; Kalingalan Caluang, Omar-Luuk; Luuk-Panamao-Patikul routes.

Loong said the road networks would spur economic development and help restore normalcy in hostile areas where lawless groups are holding out.

The Sagay-Sagay water system project was first launched in 2014, with a P30 million grant, expanded subsequently in 2015 with an additional P50 million budget.

The ARMM government has allocated P50 million more for its third phase this year.

Residents in three municipalities in the second district of Sulu, Panglima Estino, Panamao and Kalingalan Caluang, stand to benefit from the water supply facility.

The facility will supply clean water to villagers, something they hardly had before.

The lack of potable water in many villages in Sulu is blamed for so many diseases which compounds the burden of health workers serving the local communities.