Footbridge project for ethnic Blaans in highland town completed

COTABATO CITY — Ethnic Blaans in the highlands around Datalblao in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, are optimistic about earning more from farming now that a footbridge has been built over a wide river, allowing them to cross and bring their farm products to the town market, even during the rainy season.

Barangay Datalblao Chairman Datu Zahir Mamalinta told reporters on Tuesday, January 14, that the P1 million footbridge, which connects the banks of the Dalol River, has been open to the public since early this month.

He said the footbridge, constructed by barangay officials, municipal engineers, and Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI), serves as an all-weather route for the Blaans in Datalblao to access the town center, where they sell rice, corn, vegetables, and livestock from their farms in ancestral lands.

Mamalinta also saidthat the footbridge is accessible to private and passenger motorcycles, known locally as "habal-habal."

Habal-habal drivers from the Blaan, Ilonggo, and Maguindanaon communities in Koronadal, Cotabato, and Tacurong cities expressed their gratitude in radio reports on Tuesday. They thanked the officials of Barangay Datalblao, the Columbio municipal government, and Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI) for the construction of the footbridge.

“Our constituents now have easy, safe access to the town market, to our local government center, to the schools and medical dispensaries in the town proper of Columbio,” Vice Mayor Bai Naila Mangelen-Mamalinta said.