Eastern Visayas seeks funding for 4 key projects

TACLOBAN CITY – The Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) has presented four key projects in a recent meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., for inclusion in the 2025 or 2026 funding.

The three projects for 2025 funding presented by Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez, the RDC chairperson, are the Tuna Development Program of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Basic Education Facilities of the Department of Education (DepEd), and completion of the Road Heightening and Tide Embankment Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Although still subject to a feasibility study this year and targeted by the Department of Transportation to start in 2026, Torres also presented the proposed Eastern Visayas Railway System as one of the region's priorities.

"The RDC presented the priority programs and projects (PAPs) following the President's instructions for concerned national agencies and the Department of Budget and Management to include the RDCs' priority PAPs in the 2025 or 2026 budget," the National Economic and Development Authority's (NEDA) regional office said in a statement on Wednesday.

NEDA is the secretariat of the RDC, with six governors, nine city and capital town mayors, and regional directors of national government agencies.

RDCs from various regions in the country presented their priority projects to the President during a meeting in Malacañang last April 30.

The Tuna Development Program proposed by BFAR seeks to improve tuna harvests in Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces by providing postharvest and processing facilities.

The region's Pacific Ocean, particularly off the coast of Eastern and Northern Samar, is known for tuna fishing with about 600 tons every year, less than the 1,000-ton quota set by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

The RDC and BFAR have not provided data on the proposed funding for tuna development.

The Basic Education Facilities is the annual budget of the DepEd for its school building program, which covers the improvement and maintenance of school facilities.

The budget requirement for the region is P8 billion, according to the DepEd regional office.

For the Road Heightening and Tide Embankment Project, of the estimated over P12-billion required budget, some P9 billion has been released in the past eight years for the 19-kilometer (km) flood mitigation structure and a 5.43-km. backwater dike.

For 2025 onwards, the still-unfunded amount is P3.13 billion, according to the DPWH.

The flood mitigation structure serves as a protection for communities in this city and the nearby towns of Palo and Tanauan in Leyte province from destructive waves. It has stainless steel flap gates and river gates with actuators.

It has a bike lane with railings, ramps, and streetlights.

The RDC earlier said the establishment of a railway project for Eastern Visayas is identified as one of the priorities in the Visayas Spatial Development Framework 2015 – 2045.

"The planned railway in Eastern Visayas will link strategic infrastructure such as the port of Allen in Northern Samar to the ports of Liloan and San Ricardo in Southern Leyte. In doing so, the travel time of goods and people passing through Eastern Visayas to and from Luzon or Mindanao will significantly be reduced," NEDA said.

Last year, the RDC formed a task force to prepare a concept note for the Eastern Visayas railway system eyed more than 20 years ago. (PNA)