CATARMAN, Philippines – Construction of a road network seen to bring “peace and prosperity” in insurgent-torn Samar Island has been started.

Sandy T. Pua, district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s Northern Samar First Engineering District Office (NSFDEO) revealed, in an exclusive interview with Manila Bulletin, that the NSFDEO has began constructing the P900-million “Peace and Prosperity Roads” priority project in line with President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s agenda for peace.

Said 90.04-kilometer “Peace and Prosperity Roads” project is a five-span road network package that would connect the central boundaries of Samar Island’s three provinces that, as of now, are bounded by insurgent dissidents and lawless forces.

Realization of the road network is seen to facilitate delivery of basic social and health services to people in the hinterlands of the island as well as make it easier for police and military authorities to go after both insurgents and other criminal elements responsible for making the relatively isolated areas of the island a haven for lawlessness.

The road network project is also the DPWH’s response to a meeting held by the Eastern Visayas’ Regional Peace and Order Council during which the Philippine Army (PA)’s 8th Infantry Battalion (8IB) pointed out that among the major obstacles against dealing effectively with the 40-year insurgency problem in Samar is the lack of a good road network. The construction of said road network project that would make accessible areas in the hinterlands of Samar will greatly enhance the eradication of the insurgency problem and hasten prosperity in the island, according to the 8IB officials present in said meeting.

Said road network project will comprise of the opening of the Polangi-Gebulwangan-Quezon- Trangue-Mabini Road with a total 12.1-kilometer length; the Trujillo- Duran-Gemarangan Road with a total length of 20 kilometers; the Colab-og-Lugib-Buenasuerte-Pasabuena-Maxvilla Road stretching 13.5 kilometers; the San Isidro-Lope de Vega road with a total length of 35 kilometers; and the Bangkerohan-Galutan-Imelda- Hinatad-Mckinley Road which will run a total of nearly 10 kilometers.

Pua said the first three road network project packages will be implemented by the NSFDEO district office, while packages four and five will be the responsibility of the DPWH regional office.

Already P50 million have each been released last October for Phase 1 of packages one and two of the project, these fund releases also made it possible for the project to be started.