Conversion of Kipot road in Songsongon tragedy put on hold
Efforts to convert the road section in Igbaras, Iloilo where the unfortunate Songsongon tragedy occurred will have to wait till further notice.
This, as official guidelines in barangay road conversion to that of a provincial road was discovered to be unavailable and "not existing."
The findings formed part of Committee Report No. 02 of the Committee on Infrastructure chaired by Second District Board Member June Mondejar.
An offshoot of Resolution No. 2007-034 of the Municipality of Igbaras, the Committee sought to resolve the request of town officials for conversion of Poblacion-Kipot Road, a barangay road to provincial road category.
A site visit was made by a team from the Iloilo Provincial Engineer's Office (PEO) following the referral made by Board Member Mondejar.
PEO's Engineer Romeo Andig along with the Igbaras Municipal Engineer came back with its findings on the road's technical description.
Poblacion-Kipot Road is some 10 kilometers long that "traverses on a rolling terrain but no evidence of erosion found due to the presence of heavy vegetation."
It is also 5 meters in travel-way including road shoulders in both sides with the road's ditches and canals on ascending grade sections found to be "very poor."
As such, the Committee on Infrastructure as per PEO findings recommended that minimum road travel-way of 6 meters and road shoulders of two meters for both sides must be established for said barangay road to be qualified into a provincial road.
Further still, the road-right-of way "must also be established to an over-all width of 15 meters, the required right-of-way of provincial roads as per Executive Order 113 of then President Ramon Magsaysay.
Interestingly enough though, The News Today (TNT) learned that if not for the conversion request here, it would not be known that not a single barangay road in Iloilo was actually made into a provincial road in the past years. Or so it would appear based on the PEO's records. Most of the conversions, TNT gathered, were from barangay roads straight to becoming a national road.
"So the committee requested the Provincial Engineer to prepare the draft of the guidelines which will be the basis for the enactment of ordinance, setting or establishing the guidelines for the conversion of barangay or municipal road into provincial road," excerpts of the Committee Report as obtained by TNT went.
In approval with Board Member Mondejar were First District Board Member Richard Garin, committee vice chairman and members Third District Board Member Mariano Malones, Fourth District Board Member George Demaisip, Fifth District Board Member Jett Rojas and Ex-Officio Board Member Cecilia Colada, President, Philippine Councilor's League- Iloilo Chapter.