Unforgiving road to Bukidnon

Ruffy Magbanua

“Wherever I may roam the distant land to see, I long to go back soon to sweet Bukidnon home, Her lovely mountains high with forest old and grand, Bring memories to me the home I long to see…” -excerpts from “Bukidnon, My Home,” provincial anthem of Bukidnon.

IN my short writing hiatus, I had the chance to stay for a while in Bukidnon, my sweet home away from home. But traveling these days to Bukidnon is not as sweet it could be as manifested in the province’s iconic provincial anthem.

Over the years, Sayre Highway, the national road network that cuts across  the province of Bukidnon has been on a never-ending road repair binge since time immemorial.

Travel now to this landlocked province is one of hell of a ride.   Notwithstanding the massive expansion of the highway from the old two-lane to four to six lanes,  travel time from Cagayan de Oro to Valencia City will now take about six to seven hours, a sharp contrast to the usual three to four hours, either by bus or private vehicle.

I have yet to hear from the embattled Gov. Jose  Ma. “Joe” Zubiri  of DPWH’s penchant of “butchering” Bukidnon’s only road link to the regional cities of Cagayan de Oro  and Davao.

Sayre Highway is that portion of the highway which starts from Puerto in Cagayan de Oro City to Davao City via Buda along the borders of Kitaotao, Bukidnon and North Cotabato.

The 192-kilometer long highway was named after Francis Bowes Sayre Sr., a professor at Harvard Law School who  served as the United States’ High Commissioner to the Philippines from 1947 to 1952. It was named after him since he was the one who spearheaded the initial  construction of the Bukidnon highway.

Not too long ago, my media colleague had to endure an overnight stay along the muddy stretch of  the Sayre Highway under construction in Damay, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. He was on his way to cover a USAID project in Maguindanao. He nearly missed that event.

A massive landslide blocked a kilometer-long road with solid rocks as big as Zubiri’s mansion,  and eventually clogged the highway with hundreds of vehicles, creating a massive traffic jam from Barangay Damay to as far as Poblacion in  Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.

For over 15 long hours, he and the rest of his co-passengers aboard Rural Transit Bus had no choice but just stare at the open,  dark skies of Bukidnon.

This is Bukidnon today.  Amid the vast green fields of sugarcane, pineapple  and banana plantations, this province of over a million people had been suffering from both infrastructure and socio-political turmoil that nobody seems to bother complaining about.

Zubiri, the old man of Bukidnon politics, has been suspended lately due to his refusal to sign retirement papers of his old buddy turned political nemesis, former provincial assessor Caloy Ycaro.

Like the “chop-chop” Sayre Highway, the political scene in this landlocked province is into a colossal web of infighting and constant back-biting to the detriment of the people whom Zubiri had been “serving” for quite a  long time.

Over the years, the construction of the widening road project of Sayre Highway, as closely observed, is moving too slow, already overtaken by time as DPWH continue to brag about its accomplishments under a Villar hierarchy.

Now the question: when will the DPWH learn to assure the traveling public of safe and comfortable ride over  Bukidnon’s “new” Sayre Highway?

When will this road to perdition become a highway of good returns?

E-mail: ruffy44_ph2000@yahoo.com