Where the road ends, phase two begins

There is something remarkable about CARAGA that has continuously drawn me to the region: the people’s indomitable spirit.

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I have seen this strength of character in the faces of local government officials, farmers, students, mothers, and former combatants.

Having spent years in the area’s hinterlands as a young military officer, I have witnessed the struggles that Caraganons have gone through, particularly at the height of the communist insurgency. Despite the region’s long history of armed conflict, the people did not lose faith and forged ahead.

Because they believed in the national government’s promise that one day, things will get better. For years, they held on to this promise despite emerging challenges that threatened the area’s peace and security.

That moment came early this month as we led the ceremonial groundbreaking of several major infrastructure projects under the government’s Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur.

For decades, many upland barangays in these provinces lived with the difficult reality that when the rains came, roads turned into rivers of mud. Farmers walked for hours to bring their produce to markets, children struggled to reach school, and people could not access health services.

That is why when we launched more than P455 million worth of PAMANA projects in Agusan del Norte, I told the people gathered there that the old saying, "Where the road ends, insurgency begins," no longer applies to them.

We had to revise the saying to: "Where the road ends, Phase Two begins." Because once the first road is built, development follows.

Business activity expands, schools and clinics become easier to reach, and government services are delivered faster.