Ambaguio, Nueva Vizcaya—This cool upland town near Mount Pulag will soon be minutes away from the Cagayan Valley road upon the completion of a 7.8-kilometer-long, 6.10-meter-wide provincial road.
“May this blessing bring forth the most awaited progress for the Kalanguya indigenous cultural communities,” remarked Nueva Ecija Gov. Carlos M. Padilla during the groundbreaking ceremony held on Monday morning.
The P95-million road upgrading project includes a 0.2-meter thick plain concrete slab, 70 lineal meters of 900-mm diameter reinforced concrete pipe culverts, and 321.80 lineal meters of stone masonry.
The fund came from the Conditional Matching Grant to Provinces administered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for local governments. The project was awarded to the construction firm Delta Earthmoving, Inc.
With a population of about 15,000, Ambaguio straddles the northern face of Mt. Pulag, Luzon’s highest peak, and the provincial boundary with Ifugao province. It has remained relatively isolated due to its steep mountainous terrain.
Once completed, it will ease land transportation from Ambaguio’s Poblacion to the public market in the capital town of Bayombong.
“The next challenge is to build more roads to Ambaguio’s interior barangays that would exit to Asipulo and Tinoc towns in Ifugao and Abatan in Benguet,” an engineer working for the Provincial Engineering Office said.
Ambaguio got its name from the Kalanguya word “bagiw”, which means moss. A larger portion of the place remains a mossy forest area. The terrain and local climate is ideal for temperate vegetable production.
