GMA guest at Quirino's 37th foundation day, to unveil projects

CABARROGUIS, Quirino – This region’s youngest province will be celebrating its 37th founding anniversary today, which will be highlighted by President Arroyo’s gracing the yearly event dubbed Panagdadapun.

This year’s Panagdadapun, an Iluko-Bugkalot term meaning “flocking together,” will also be highlighted by the unveiling of a giant fossilized flower for which this province is known as one of its major home industry products.

Aside from gracing this year’s affair, Mrs. Arroyo will be inaugurating several multimillion-peso funded projects here, including the P1.3-billion Addalam irrigation system and the P2.4-million tourism project dubbed GMA cottage in this capital town.

Gov. Dakila Cua said the President’s presence as well as the launching of a giant fossilized flower will surely make the commemoration of this province’s three-day founding anniversary, which will culminate today, more worth remembering.

Besides Cua and his father, Rep. Junia Cua, also expected to welcome the President include Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena, the chairman of the Regional Development Council.

“We are ensuring that the celebration of this year’s Panagdadapun will be something unforgettable for all of us and for our visitors,” he said.

About 350 kilometers northeast of Manila, this landlocked province, named after the late President Elpidio Quirino, was created as a separate province in 1971 through a Republic Act co-authored by then senator Leonardo Perez Sr. and his brother, then Rep. Benjamin Perez. Quirino used to be a sub-province of Nueva Vizcaya.

Addalam project

During her one-day sortie here, Mrs. Arroyo will also formally inaugurate the Addalam irrigation project, one of her flagship projects here to fortify the region’s role as the country’s food basket.

One of the administration’s highly-funded community-based agriculture projects, the Addalam irrigation is expected to further accelerate Cagayan Valley’s rice and corn production, fortifying its status as the country’s topmost rice and corn-producing region.

“We are thankful to the President for supporting us in the completion of our project. Such is a manifestation of her deep concern for farmers to further enhance their productivity,” Cua said.

The Addalam project, which had been proposed during the term of then President Fidel V. Ramos for his vision of Philippines 2000, is designed to irrigate more than 6,000 hectares of agricultural lands here and parts of southeastern Isabela, the country’s number one producer of corn and second in rice production after Nueva Ecija. 

The President will drop by at Jones town in Isabela for the formal inauguration of the national government-funded 350-meter-long bridge worth P167.6 million.

The six-span bridge, one of the priority projects of the Arroyo administration, will serve as a vital link between the province’s southeastern Jones town to the rest of the region.

“With the construction of this road, residents in Jones and San Agustin will have an easier time in bringing their produce to market, therefore alleviating their living condition. This will also have a big impact as far as the economy of the region is concerned,” said Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao whose district covers the two former New People’s Army-infested towns.

Cagayan river basin project

In coming here, the President, who will be meeting with RDC officials, is expected to formally announce her creation of the Cagayan River Basin Project Management Office, which she created last month through EO No. 747.

Based on the order, the CRBPMO is tasked to undertake the preparation and implementation of an integrated Cagayan river basin management and development plan aimed to ensure the protection of the Cagayan Valley river basin from further degradation and at the same time harness its full economic potential.

The country’s longest river system at around 30,000 km long, the major river tributaries of the Cagayan river basin, stretches from the Magat River in Nueva Vizcaya to its mouth along the Pacific coast in Aparri, Cagayan, include Nueva Vizcaya’s Matuno and Magat Rivers, Isabela’s Pinacanauan River and Quirino’s Addalam River.