Capitol to allocate P5M for Malapascua projects
THE Cebu provincial government will allocate P5 million for health and infrastructure projects as part of the ongoing rehabilitation efforts in the typhoon-stricken Malapascua Island in the town of Daanbantayan, northern Cebu.
Gov. Hilario Davide III confirmed the plan yesterday as the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) approved a resolution to fund the projects during their session last Monday.
Davide said part of the fund will be used to build a police outpost and boost security in the island barangay.
During the Holy Week in April this year, a British dive shop operator was shot by a security guard inside his own establishment.
In the wake of 34-year-old Anthony Gilchrist’s death, resort and establishment owners in Malapascua agreed to disarm their guards and rely on barangay tanods to secure their premises.
Calamity fund
However, only a lone police officer is stationed at the island and has no place to stay, Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said.
Davide said they will also repair the island’s health center and establish roads.
The amount will be taken from the province’s disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) fund earlier known as the calamity fund, he said.
The projects are also stipulated in the Malapascua Island Eco-Tourism Development Plan (MIEDP) which was crafted in 2002 during the time of former Gov. Pablo Garcia.
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PB Member Sun Shimura said the projects should be implemented by the Cebu provincial government.
Shimura cited an existing 2006 agreement for MIEDP which authorized the province to take over the management and implementation of the development plan.
However, Davide said the money will be downloaded to the Daanbantayan local government unit and will be tasked to implement the project.
But construction of the roads will be undertaken by the Provincial Engineering Office, he said.
“For me, it’s the discretion of the governor, and I’d rather download the funds to the municipal government. Our agreement was for the province to claim (and repair) the road,” Davide told reporters.
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