• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A multi-purpose building worth P8 million, for the use of the Philippine Army, will soon rise in a two-hectare lot in Barangay Gawahon, Victorias City, Negros Occidental.
The two-hectare lot was donated by the Victorias City government to the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion, where an P8 million multi-purpose building will be constructed.
The 79IB, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Eric Alfonso, thanked the Victorias City government and Third District Representative Javier Miguel Benitez for the realization of the project, which it said will further bolster military operations and maintain peace and order in the area.
Barangay Gawahon in Victorias City, which was a stronghold of the New People’s Army in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is now among the prime tourist destination areas in Negros Island.
Benitez, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, Maj. Gen. Michael Samson, 3rd Infantry Division commander, led the recent groundbreaking rites of the multi-purpose building.
The declaration of Gawahon Eco-Park in Victorias City as a tourist destination, in order to secure funding for further development, was among the legislations filed by Benitez in the House of Representatives.*
