PLANE CRASH. The missing Piper Plane RPC 1234 was located in the vicinity of Barangay Casala, San Mariano, Isabela during a Philippine Air Force aerial search and rescue mission on Dec. 5, 2023. Officials and residents of the coastal towns of Divilacan, Palanan, and Maconacon in Isabela are calling on the government to push for the completion of the Ilagan-Divilacan road amid the spate of small plane crashes in the area. (Photo courtesy of PAF)
CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela – Officials and residents of the coastal towns of Divilacan, Palanan, and Maconacon in this province are calling on the government to push for the completion of the Ilagan-Divilacan road amid the spate of small plane crashes in the area.
“We appeal to the President (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.) and other officials to have this road finished as we are always isolated by the Sierra Madre Mountain Range,” Divilacan Mayor Venturito Bulan said on Thursday.
Nellie Limboy, Divilacan civil registrar, and fellow coastal resident Nortencio Peca-at also aired the same plea, saying that “the risk of riding local planes are like flying coffins.”
The officials issued their call after the fatalities of the RPC-1234 Piper plane – pilot Levy Abul II and passenger Erna Escalante, a barangay health worker in Dimapnat village in Divilacan – were retrieved in the wreckage site at Barangay Casala, San Mariano, Isabela on Dec. 8 and 10, respectively.
Early this year, the pilot and five passengers of a Cessna plane were found dead, more than a month after it crashed in Divilacan on Jan. 26.
Bulan also noted that two boat accidents were recorded along the Santa Ana, Cagayan and Maconacon, Isabela route.
Cynia Cano, a cousin of plane crash victim Escalante, said the road should be prioritized by the government as “we are always fearing for our safety every time we travel by plane or boat.”
Officials and residents have pointed out that the Ilagan-Divilacan road has been “gathering moss” since its rehabilitation was stopped in 2021.
Bulan said the road rehabilitation hit a snag as the rerouting of some parts of the route was blocked by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources due to the National Integrated Protected Areas Law, which also covers the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.
The National Integrated Protected Areas Law was enacted to ensure the protection, management, and enhancement of biological diversity in integrated protected areas, including the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, to conserve and protect the country’s rich biological diversity and ecosystems.
In a radio interview, Isabela Governor Rodolfo Albano III said he would look into the matter and push for the continuation of the rehabilitation of the Ilagan-Divilacan road.
The road rehabilitation project was inaugurated on March 18, 2016.
The improvement “will mean easier access to the coastal towns of Isabela, such as Maconacon, Divilacan, Palanan, and Dinapigue where the Agtas and more than 20,000 other people live, isolated economically and physically from the mainland,” according to the Regional Development Council (RDC).
A PHP1.9-billion loan was taken from the Development Bank of the Philippines to finance the road.
According to RDC records, the project had begun but the provincial government failed to finish it. (PNA)
