Duterte inaugurates the Sariaya By-pass road in a rare trip to Quezon but could not pass up the chance to vilify the critics of his war on drugs and the NPA rebels right in their former bailwick.
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte visited Quezon province on Thursday and formally inaugurated the 7.42 km. Sariaya Bypass Road and spearheaded a joint meeting of the national and regional task force that aims to end local communist armed conflict in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region.
Duterte, accompanied by Sen. Bong Go and several Cabinet members, hailed the opening of the bypass road which is included in his administration centerpiece Build, Build, Build program that could benefit at least 15,000 commuters daily who would be experiencing reduced travel time from 45 to just 10 minutes from Sariaya to Lucena city.
“Today we have another milestone in our Build Build Build program in the inauguration of the Sariaya Bypass Road,” Duterte said as he acknowledged during the program the presence of Executive secretary Salvador Medialdea, acting DPWH Sec. Roger Mercado, Sen. Bong Go, Gov. Danilo Suarez, 2nd District Rep. David Suarez and mayors of the 2nd district led by Sariaya mayor Marcelo Gayeta.
He commended the DPWH with the completion of the road project adding that it affirms the administration’s strong commitment to improve the quality of life of the Filipinos by pursuing strategic infrastructure project across the country.
Started in 2014
The P685 million Sariaya Bypass Road which started construction in 2014, is a 4-lane concrete road with four 2-lane concrete bridges that starts from Manila South Road Daang Maharlika and ends in Quezon Eco-Tourism Road. Supposed to be completed in 2017, it has been delayed by road right of way problems among affected landowners and was finally opened to motorists last year. The bypass road has helped decongest traffic along the 11 km stretch of the Maharlika highway between Sariaya and Lucena city.
Isidro Ubon, a resident of Bgy. Tumbaga Uno who has built a small fruit store along the Bypass road has only good words to say about the project.
“Ako po ay nagtitinda ng prutas at napakalaki po ng pagbabago nang malagyan ng bypass road at napakadali pong dalhin ang aming mga kalakal sa pamilihang bayan. Noong wala pang bypass road napakahirap ng daan at nang magkaroon nito ay nakapagtayo kami ng aming tindahan kaya napakarami ng natulungan nito” Ubon said at the audio-visual presentation during the program.
‘Historic’ for the 2nd district
Rep. Suarez expressed profuse thanks to Duterte saying the inauguration of the Sariaya Bypass Road by the President is ‘historic’ for the 2nd district and cited other various accomplishments in his district such as the completion of the Sariaya Agricultural Trading Center, the provision of financial assistance to almost 2,000 informal workers as Tupad beneficiaries, the improvement of the Dalahican Port in Lucena city and the construction of the Lucena City General Hospital.
At the joint meeting of the National Task Force and Regional Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-RTF-ELCAC) held at the Quezon Convention Center, Duterte started his speech addressing the communist New People’s Army rebels that “you are no longer relevant to the lives of the Filipino people” as he noted that they continue to perpetuate their pursuit thru small-scale armed attacks.
Duterte said that in all the 52 yrs of communist insurgency all it has done is ‘slaughter the Filipinos.”
With open arms
Saying that he despised violence and his order is to accept the NPA rebel surrenderers with open arms and talk to them, Duterte commended the NTF-ELCAC in Calabarzon Region for consistently standing up against the communist armed conflict in the region, claiming that it has brought significant improvement in the government’s fight against insurgency through whole-of-nation approach and in the delivery of basic service in conflict affected areas and vulnerable communities.
Duterte acknowledged the importance of grassroots participation in the attainment of peace and civility and cited the needed construction of farm to market roads and schools near the residence of people in far-flung areas vulnerable to communist influence.
DILG Sec. Eduardo Año said that the joint police and military operations in Calabarzon region have led to the dismantling and weakening of 5 communist fronts, arrest and neutralization of 9 highly valued targets, recovery of 270 firearms and clearing of 40 affected sitios and barangays.
Año said that 720 insurgents have surrendered, and another 382 former rebels were given assistance thru Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration program that aims to help the CPP-NPA rebels to be reintegrated back to the community and restore their allegiance to the government.
Duterte again harped on the obsessed concern on human rights, saying that the anti-drug campaign has almost 500 people being arrested individually for drug-related crimes and seizure of illegal drugs amounting weekly to a billion pesos.
Human rights issue
He again mentioned the convenient ignorance of human rights advocates to the victims of drug addicts like mother being killed with severed head, children raped and killed, robbery with rape and homicide stressing that his critics would ascribe them all to extra-judicial killings,
The President fulminated about the so-called ‘big fish‘ not being caught in his war on drugs as alleged by his critics and mentioned the recent killing of the 4 Chinese drug traders to debunk his detractors.
Because of his irritation towards his critics, Duterte, as he was winding up in his speech, almost forgot to mention the presence of Quezon congresswomen Aleta Suarez of the province’ 3rd District and Rep. Angelina ‘Helen’ Tan of the 4th District and other Quezon political leaders.