Champion for infrastructure: CDO, a competitive city

Renato Tibon .

“Infrastructure investments lead to jobs. And quality of life starts with a good job.” -John Hickenlooper

WITH a good job if I may hasten to extrapolate, comes a stable income, the level of consumption goes higher, production is enhanced and the cogwheels of the economy sufficiently engaged to make society functional, criminality down and peace reigning throughout the land. In short everybody’s happy. That at least is everyone’s objective even as reality does not always agree. Yet one positive thing leads to another and it would not be farfetched to assume that with the right politics, governance and institutionalized eradication of corrupt practices and the circumstances that give rise to it, these dreams would be realizable. Infrastructure as an investment vehicle essential to the operation of a society would then be a good starting point.

To a politician, the benchmark of success in his career are visible and tangible accomplishments which constituents would be proud of and remember. Of these, infrastructure comes out on top of the heap. Using his congressional skills, experience and hobnobbing with fellow representatives, Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez, was able to secure a total of 12 Billion funding infrastructure projects for his district from 2007-2016 comprised of the following:

• Concreting of 122 kilometers of National City and Barangay roads

• Concreting and drainage of Apolinar Velez Street

• Concreting of North (R.N. Abejuela Street) and South (Tirso Neri Street) Divisoria

• Road Widening and concreting of National Highway into six lanes from Lapasan to Bugo

• Drainage Construction in the National Highways

• Construction of seven pedestrian overpasses

• Construction of eight kilometers concrete Flood Control dike in Cagayan de Oro river

• P1.6 billion was utilized for the construction of the Coastal Bypass Road and Boulevard along the Macajalar Bay shoreline from Gusa to Lapasan to Macabalan Pier and to Puntod-Kauswagan bridge

• Concreting of almost all barangay roads in the Second District

• Concreting of sitio pathways in barangays through Bayanihan system where barangay officials provided sand and gravel, residents provided labor and Congressman Rufus giving the cement

• Opening of Eastern Interior Highway that will extend JR Borja Extension to Sayre Highway in Barangay Puerto

• Concreting of CDO to Laguindingan alternate highway from Balubal to Indahag then to Laguindingan Airport

• Construction of Macasandig to Balulang Bridge

• Construction of Macabalan to Bonbon bridge

• Construction and repair of 600 public elementary and high school classrooms

• Construction and repair of 26 Barangay Health Centers

Of the P3.757-trillion proposed National Budget for 2019, human capital development (education, healthcare and social protection, flagship programs of Congressman Rufus), will receive the biggest chunk at P659.3 billion, followed by infrastructure, with a budget of P555.7 billion under the DPWH, which will focus on the government’s Build-Build-Build program. This will further boost the passage of his pending bills related to the foregoing priority sectors, to spur economic growth in District 2.

Among the infrastructure projects Congressman Rufus plans to propose and pursue are the construction of a comprehensive city-wide drainage system, completion of JR Borja Extension Road (Eastern Interior Road) from Barangay Gusa to Puerto, and the extension of CDO Coastal Road from Barangay Gusa to Bugo, construction of Flyover (overpass) at Galaxy Street corner Highway at Barangay Gusa, completion of alternate highway from Sayre Highway, Balubal passing through the highlands of Agusan, Cugman, Indahag to Laguindingan airport, completion of the CDO Convention Center and the construction of more roads connecting the hinterlands and enabling the farmers to bring their produce to the city.

Consistent with the government’s Build-Build-Build program, infrastructure projects in the city would provide much needed income and boost the employment sector while enhancing the social, political and economic status of the city and secure its place as one of the most progressive, liveable and most competitive cities in the country. Support for the congressional bid of Congressman Rufus would make all these dreams come true.

Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez: Mr. Performance, Fighter sa Kongreso, Beterano sa Kongreso, Champion for Infrastructure – building the Gateway to Mindanao, Cagayan de Oro City.

(Renato Gica Tibon is a fellow of the Fellowship of the 300, an elite organization under Centrist Democracy Political Institute  [CDPI] with focus on political technocracy. He  holds both position as political action officer and program manager of the Institute. He is the former regional chairman for Region 10 and vice president for Mindanao of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines [CDP].)