Calbayog City_/As the rest of the country marked the 37th anniversary of Martial Law, 5 barangays in the northern part of the city received the fruits of their “liberation” from being affected by the insurgents: the Kalayaan Barangays Program or KBP Projects of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In a simple ceremony at Brgy. Peña in Tinambacan district, Col. Arnaldo Fernandez, Jr., commander of the 53rd Engineering Brigade, together with Col. Arnolfo Atendido, commander of the 803rd Infantry Brigade, turned over to city mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento and the 5 punong barangays the fully-accomplished KBP project packages consisting of a 2-room school building, a health center and street lights. The projects which cost around Php1.5 million per package were warmly received by the Barangay officials, health workers and teachers of Barangays Peña, Cagmanipis Norte, Malaga, Tinaplacan and Bugtong.
According to Lt. Col. Rizalito Tibon, the commanding officer of 543rd Engineering Construction Battalion which erected the said projects, the Kalayaan Barangays Program of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was intended for conflict-affected communities all over the country. It is specifically given to such barangays who lack the basic infrastructure projects such as school buildings, water system, and the like.
The recipient barangays in Calbayog according to Col. Tibon, were selected when the Special Operations Team from the 20th IB conducted a pulong-pulong with the people of the communities to know what their basic priority needs are. These needs were submitted to the National Development Command, which in turn, requested funds from the President.
During the ribbon cutting ceremonies in the barangay, there were observations made about the good quality of work done on the buildings by the engineering battalion. To this, Col. Tibon said, “Iyon lang po talaga ang gawain naming mga army engineers, lahat ng gawin namin, kailangan matibay, para hindi na magkaproblema ang ating mga communities, at hindi masira ang gobyerno.” Col. Tibon also added that army engineers are not “profit oriented but service oriented,” hence whatever funds allocated for the project are being spent for it. In case there are savings, like what happened to these KBP projects, they use it to buy tables and chairs for the teachers.
The savings must have been quiet big because after the blessing of the buildings, Col. Fernandez promised to provide lavatories for the health centers and, to the applause and cheers of the teachers and students, a complete set of computers for each of the school buildings. (Eleen Lim / DYOG Calbayog)
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