ARCs in Mt. Province town get infra support projects

TADIAN, Mt. Province — Gearing up for high-impact projects that would help highland communities help themselves, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has turned over three support-service projects to agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in Tadian town recently.

Funded under DAR’s Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project II, the support-service projects include the P23-million improvement of the 12.28-kilometer Cagubatan—Lenga—Sayapot farm-to-market road and post-harvest facilities costing P1.5 million, both implemented by the DPWH, and a P14.2-million communal irrigation system, which the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) undertook.

DAR-Mt. Province director Deogracias Almora said these projects will benefit the ARCs in Tadian’s so-called Sunnyside barangays of Pandayan, Cagubatan, Lenga, Bana-ao, Dacudac, and Sayapot.

"We really planned to simultaneously turn over these projects so that (there would be a) comprehensive impact on the communities. Before, farmers only had one planting season because of its farmlands’ former rainfed status; now they can have two because of the irrigation system," Almora said.

DAR-Cordillera regional director Renato Navata said DAR has brought P268 million worth of projects to Mt. Province since 1990, of which P42-43 million worth of projects went to Tadian.

Gov. Maximo Dalog said these projects would help improve the lives of Tadian residents and the provincial folk as a whole.

Dalog described the projects as the "fruits of the unity, cooperation and solidarity among local officials and the people."

Barangay Cagubatan chairman Lose Ligod said the projects would definitely enhance the productivity of the residents of the Sunnyside barangays.