LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The newly-designated caretaker congressman underscored that majority of the projects to be implemented in the province should be prosecuted by qualified and competent local contractors because they are the ones who are familiar with the terrain and understand the prevailing situation in the different parts of the province.
Anti-Crime and Terrorism Through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Representative and now Benguet caretaker congressman Eric Go Yap made the pronouncement during an interaction with some members of the local media who attended the Familiarization and Educational tour in the House of Representatives and the Senate last Monday.
Yap was among the members of the House who comprise the Northern Alliance that attended the gathering at the House Speaker’s conference room.
Yap said he will see to it that majority of the development projects to be implemented in the province will be undertaken by qualified and competent local contractors who are familiar with the prevailing situation in the province so that the same will be implemented pursuant to project specifications and standards.
The Benguet Caretaker Congressman assured that projects due to Benguet will be implemented and any additional he can bring to the province will also be delivered aside from pursuing the consistent delivery of public service to the people in need of medical assistance, health care, scholarship, among other needs that will help them move out from the shackles of poverty.
Earlier, Rep. Yap assured stakeholders he will personally talk to Public Works Secretary Mark Villar for the return of the venue of bidding of some P1.2 billion worth of infrastructure projects which are mostly located in Benguet to the Cordillera office of the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH-CAR) after the same was unreasonably and unjustifiably transferred to the central office by the region’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
Some local officials in the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area questioned the alleged ill motives of some DPWH-CAR officials in forwarding to the central office the conduct of public bidding of the aforesaid projects without substantial basis and justifiable reasons considering that instead of shortening the process, the DPWH-CAR BAC prolonged the procedures that will surely have a serious negative impact in the implementation of the multi-billion works.
Yap continues to dialogue with concerned sectors in the province to elicit their priority concerns and development needs so he can work out the same out with concerned government agencies to improve the state of the agriculture sectors which is the major source of livelihood of the people living in the 13 towns of the province.
Yap will serve as the province’s caretaker congressman to fill up the vacancy created by the untimely demise of the late Benguet Rep. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr. who succumbed to a lingering illness last December 18, 2019.
By Hent