-===TINOC, Ifugao– A gardener and a religious leader, Joyce Buhay considered the opening and concreting of the Kiangan to Tinoc national road a blessing to her family.
Buhay who is also a Catechist in the Catholic Church here recalled that when the said road was not yet opened, most of the lots here were not tilled. “It was only in 2004 when Honorable Teddy Baguilat Jr. was governor when the road was formally opened with a motorcade,” Buhay said.
In 2013, when Baguilat was elected congressman, he was able to shepherd the passage of a law converting the said road to a national road which paved the way for funds to pour in this project to widen and make the road concrete and safe. “We observed that since then the lives of constituents here changed a lot,” Buhay said.
“Our houses before were nipa huts made out of cogon and wood but because of this road, we now have concrete houses with galvanized iron as roof,” Buhay averred adding that the livelihood of the people here greatly improved as compared to when there was no road. Residents here are putting up their own business establishments where the public can buy their needs unlike before when we had to travel by foot to Kiangan or Benguet Province to buy food and other things or materials, she said.
She further said that people here started to convert vacant or idle lots into gardens which contributed to the improvement of their economic situation. “We were able to send our children to school and my family bought a jeepney in 2010 that brought our farm products to Bambang in Nueva Vizcaya to be transported to Manila,” Buhay said.
Considered as the vegetable producing town in this province, Buhay also disclosed that aside from gardening her family owns a piggery and the road is helpful in bringing the hogs and goats, chickens of other residents here to the nearest market. Buhay and her neighbors in Barangay Gumhang, Ranillo and Jessa Lindawan were grateful that this road was constructed because their lives nowadays improved. “We were able to produce cabbages, pepper, beans and potatoes, Lindawan said.
Buhay also observed that government agencies frequently visit this town to implement various programs and projects when the road was opened. The Department of Agriculture and other agencies came here regularly to monitor programs on livelihood such as goat and chicken production, Buhay said.
Moreover, Buhay disclosed that they can be at par with other towns because they are now informed and updated on what is going on outside Tinoc due to the presence of mass media such as television and daily newspapers being brought to their town because of the road.**By Vency D. Bulayungan
