BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
More than eight years after the infamous massacre of nine civilians, barangay tanods and policemen, the responsibility for which was claimed by the New People’s Army in Brgy. Puso, La Castellana, Negros Occidental in 2013, Mayor Rhumyla Nicor-Mangilimutan said yesterday that there is a total transformation of the barangay and its people, who now feel that the legitimate government is supporting them.
Mangilimutan led the groundbreaking rites for a P4-million road concreting project in Brgy. Puso, that used to be an insurgency affected barangay of La Castellana, and said that people in the hinterlands sympathized with the “other side”, because they felt neglected by the government, due to the absence and none delivery of basic and desired services.
She recalled that Brgy. Puso was then only accessible through “habal-habal” because of almost road, and its remoteness.
With the establishment of stable peace and order among her top priorities when she assumed as mayor of La Castellana almost six years ago, Mangilimutan said she focuses in improving the road networks and construction of farm-to-market roads to boost efforts in promoting the tourist destinations in the town.
She said she was able to build schools, multi-purpose building, and improved the Barangay Puso hall, aside from other infrastructure-related projects.
Mangilimutan, a former police officer before she entered politics, said she was able to fulfill her promise of delivering the desired basic services to the Puso barangay residents, and she promised to do more.
By improving the road network, Mangilimutan said they are also developing tourist destinations, such as the Calangag waterfalls and spring, and a Palawan-like river in Brgy. Puso, that she aims to become a pride of La Castellana.
Mangilimutan reported that almost 65 percent of the road network in Brgy. Puso, La Castellana, has already been cemented.
On the other hand, another P4 million of LGSF funded project from the Department of Interior and Local Government will be used in the construction of a road that will connect barangays Camandag, Manghanoy and Cabacungan, and will bypass Moises Padilla, in going to La Castellana.*
