Residents of Barangays Mainit Sur and Mainit Norte in Perez, Quezon will soon have more reasons to cultivate their land when the construction of their Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP)-funded farm-to-market road (FMR) subproject starts.

With a length of 5.12 kilometer, the “Concreting of Mainit Sur – Mainit Norte FMR” subproject is the first PRDP infrastructure in the island of Alabat, Quezon.

“Ang proyektong ito ay madugo. Madugo dahil sa lahat ng pinagdaanan nito, mula sa pag-aayos ng dokumento, mga survey, pag-apruba hanggang sa pagbid nito. Yung iba parang pinaghihinaan na ng loob pero ang sabi ko ‘hindi tayo titigil, laban lang dahil malapit na tayo sa dulo’ (This is a tedious project. We struggled from document preparation, surveys, approval, and bidding. Some of us were discouraged but I told them that we will not stop because we are almost there),” Mayor Pepito Reyes stated during the FMR’s ground breaking on June 6.

According to Cesar Calvaria, Officer-in-Charge of Brgy. Mainit Norte, this road is the fulfillment of their long time dream. “Matagal na kaming nahihirapan na ibaba ang aming mga produkto; karamihan ay hindi na nailalabas para makarating sa kabilang ibayo. Sa tingin ko ang kalsadang ito ay hudyat na ng malaking pagbabago sa aming mga buhay (Transporting our produce from the barangay is hard; most of them do not even reach its destination – the mainland. I believe that this road signals the big change in our lives),” he further added.

The road is barely passable in rainy season due to mud especially in Mainit Sur. Meanwhile, farmers and residents in Mainit Norte spend more and take longer travel time to reach the poblacion due to the unpaved dirt road in their area. After completion, the road is expected to reduce travel time from 45 to 22 minutes and decrease the transport cost of commuters and commodities by 60%.

Farmers from the two barangays are mostly coconut growers. Their harvests are transported to the coconut hub in the town of Agdangan. To diversify their income, the local government has a program for cacao production wherein cacao will be intercropped with coconut in more than 125 hectares of idle land.

Romeo Delmoro, Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator of Perez, Quezon, also stressed the importance of this road in connection to the other road and bridge projects in the island. “Kapag natapos ‘tong kalsada na ‘to, pati na yong sa DPWH, magkakaroon na ng circumferential road sa bayan, dagdag pa rito ang ginagawang tulay sa Quezon at Lopez. Nakakasiguro kami na dadami pa ang oportunidad sa aming bayan (When this FMR and the DPWH road project are finished, our town will have a circumferential road together with the bridge being built between Quezon and Lopez. We are sure that these developments will increase opportunities in our municipality),” he said.

Aside from planting, other agricultural activities are also being eyed for expansion such as pig and chicken raising. The local government is also trying to woo new industries to set-up in the two barangays. ###(Lawrence Albert A. Bariring, PRDP CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)