OPS January 11, 2010

ILOILO CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will visit Iloilo province tomorrow Tuesday (Jan.12) to inaugurate the newly rehabilitated Western Visayas Sanitarium.

Located in the town of Sta. Barbara in Iloilo, the 50-bed hospital will soon be converted and renamed Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The hospital cum institute will undertake research in the diagnosis, control and prevention of tropical diseases that are major causes of mortality and morbidity in the Philippines.

All research activities will be coordinated with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of the Department of Health.

The institute will also conduct regular training courses for medical and paramedical personnel involved in the control of the diseases in Western Visayas and the rest of country.

As a hospital, it will continue providing high quality inpatient and outpatient care.

The President will then formally open the 1.72 kilometer national road in this city, rehabilitated at the cost of P25 million. She will also inaugurate the Mandurriao-San Miguel-Alimodan-Maasin-Cabatuan Road, Bancal-Leon-Antique Boundary Road, and Iloilo-Capiz Road.

The three road projects were undertaken at the cost of P10 million, P20 million, and P5 million, respectively.

7/28/2009 - DPWH 6 Director Rolando Asis welcomes President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her July 28 Iloilo Visit. The DPWH implements the high impact projects declared by President Arroyo during her State of the Nation Address (SONA)in 2008 and these are the road widening project from Iloilo City to the new Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan-Sta.Barbara; Metro Iloilo Radial Road and the Pandan-Libertad Road ending up to the boundary of Antique and Aklan Province. Photo also shows DPWH Deputy Usec Rafael Yabot (partly hidden) PA Raul Banias, Secretary Augusto Syjuco, Mayor Ramon Yee of Cabtuan, Governor Niel Tupas, and Airport Area Manager Efren Nagrama. (PIA6/T. Villavert)

PIA 2010/01/11

Iloilo (11 January) -- President Gloria Arroyo's record of infrastructure development brings her again to Iloilo City, January 12, to conduct an inaugural drive through upgraded and rehabilitated roads in strategic locations in the second and third districts of Iloilo.

The President will be driven through these secondary national roads access and stop over in Bgy. Bancal, Alimodian for project briefing by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Two of the projects she will look into are the rehabilitated Iloilo-Capiz route via Zarraga, Iloilo, and the road upgrading of Mandurriao-San Miguel-Alimodian-Maasin-Cabatuan Road. The Rehabilitated Iloilo-Capiz route is P5-million worth of project from the 2009 Regular Infra program of government, consisting of an overlay of 0.465 Km. road, 6.30 meters wide and 0.050 meters thick, including repair works, resurfacing of shoulders on both sides with pavement markings.

The project is along a national arterial road which is the main trunk line of vehicular traffic coming from the provinces of Aklan, Capiz and northern Iloilo to the city and vice-versa.Commuters said the road improvement has made travel comfortable and has eased traffic along the route, making access to Iloilo City relatively faster.

The project, according to the DPWH started in March 2009 and fully operational as of December 2009.On the other hand, the road upgrading of Mandurriao-San Miguel-Alimodian-Maasin-Cabatuan Road, costing P10 Million is a concrete paving of 0.644 Km. road, 6.70 meters wide and 0.23 meters thick, serving as passage of vehicles going to the municipalities of Pavia, San Miguel, Alimodian and Maasin to Iloilo and vice-versa.

The road also leads to the junction of Bancal, Alimodian-Leon-Antique boundary which, Alimodian Mayor Juanito Alipao, is a strategic area because the towns involved are vast producers of agricultural products that supply the needs of Iloilo city and the province.

The DPWH said that the project was completed in approximately 150 calendar days, since it started in March 2009 and is now fully operational.By and large, the local government officials in these towns said the improved infrastructures in their areas have helped much in improving livelihood and income of many of their constituents.

The other two projects which Arroyo will be looking into are the rehabilitation/ reconstruction/upgrading of the damaged pave national road junction of Bancal-Leon-Antique boundary covering 1.72810 km stretch from Leon to Alimodian, and the completed concrete paving of the 1.236 km stretch in Leon to Antique boundary.

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that the Arroyo administration will be defined more for its ambitious infrastructure projects which have "spurred and sustained economic growth."

Remonde said the President has constructed more roads and bridges than all her three immediate predecessors combined, as from 2001 to the present, this administration has laid out 47,773 kilometers of roads and 289,955 meters of bridges.All three previous presidents, Remonde added, have altogether managed to build 34,327 kilometers of roads and 274,742 meters of bridges. (PIA6/ESS)

PIA 2010/01/12

Manila (12 January) -- Si Presidente Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo mobisita sa probinsiya sa Iloilo karong adlawa, Martes aron sa pag-inagura sa bag-ong gi-ayo nga Western Visayas Sanitarium.

Nahimutang sa lungsod sa Sta. Barbara sa Iloilo, ang 50 ka higdaanan nga ospital paga-usbon na sa ngalang Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Ang ospital kon tun-anan maghimo ug pagtuon alang sa pag-ila, pagkontrolar ug pagsumpo sa tropical diseases diin maoy nag-unang hinungdan sa mortality ug morbidity dinhi sa Pilipinas.

Ang tun-anan magpahigayon usab ug regular training courses alang sa medical ug paramedical personnel nga naapil sa pagkontrolar sa mga sakit sa Wetern Visayas ug ubang parte sa nasud. Isip usa ka ospital, kini magpadayon usab sa paghatag ug taas nga kalidad nga inpatient ug outpatient nga pag-amuma.

Ang Presidente pormal dayon nga mag-abli sa 1.72 kilometros nga national road sa maong syudad, diin ayohon sa kantidad nga P125 milyones. Siya mag-inagura usab sa Mandurriao-San Miguel-Maasin-Cabatuan Road, Bancal-Leon-Antique Boundary Road, ug Iloilo-Capiz road.

Ang tulo ka proyekto gipahigayon sa kantidad nga P10 milyones, P20 milyones ug P5 milyones, sa maong han-ay. (rgcadavos/PIA-soleyte)

8/13/2009 - WELCOME MA'AM. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is welcomed by Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. at the Iloilo Airport. President Arroyo visited Iloilo to check on the vital infrastructure projects implemented in the province. Also shown in photo are PA Raul Banias and Secretary Raul Gonzalez. (PIA6/T. Villavert)

OPS 13 AUGUST 2009

Alimodian, Iloilo--- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered today the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to work 24/7 on the two-lane 150-lineal meter concrete Nichols Bridge that will span the Aganan River.

The President issued the directive during the groundbreaking this afternoon of the P166.45 million bridge project here.

The Nichols Bridge is one of the 18 bridges in Panay Island for construction by the President’s Bridge Program Office (PBPO) under the JICA-Assisted Urgent Bridges Project for Rural Development.

The bridge project, located along Alimodian-Sinamay-Sta.Cruz-San Miguel Road in Alimodian, when completed, will ensure a safe, reliable and smooth traffic network of people, goods and services.

The completed bridge will reinstate to normal socio-economic activities in the Alimodian area and nearby towns from the previous devastation wrought by Typhoon Frank in June 2008.

The original Nichols Bridge was destroyed by floods spawned by typhoon Frank.

Barely two months later, the PBPO of the DPWH immediately started the construction of a temporary detour bridge to ease the hardships of the affected residents.

The temporary detour bridge was completed in November 2008.

From Pavia, Iloilo, the President motored to this town amid a heavy downpour, through the ongoing rehabilitation project of the Alimodian-Cabatuan-Maasin Road.

The completion of the project, according to Alimodian Mayor Juanito Alipao, will spur development in the farming barangays of the three towns traversed by the said road.