Zambo City gov't turns over a Php 4.1-M brgy hall

The city government of Zamboanga has inaugurated and turned over a newly-constructed barangay hall to the officials of Barangay Tumaga on May 27.

Mayor Celso Lobregat and vice mayor Cesar Iturralde and some members of the City Council turned over the Php 4.1 million newly-constructed barangay hall project, to Tumaga barangay officials led by chairperson Carolina Gaganting the other day, barely three months after the same barangay received the city-funded lying in clinic and wellness center located just a few meters away from the new infrastructure.

Assisting the mayor and the vice mayor during the unveiling rites were Councilors Rudy Lim, Myra Paz Abubakar, Percival Ramos, Jaime Cabato, Luis Biel III, VP Elago and Rogelio Valesco Jr.

The barangay hall, according to mayor Lobregat, is only one of the numerous infrastructure worth over P83 million that his administration has implemented in Tumaga since 2007.

Ongoing at present are Php 31 million worth of projects which include two-storey, 24-classroom building at the Catalina Vda de Jalon Elementary School and some river rip rapping projects, he said.

Lobregat also directed City Engineer Luis Despalo to immediately prepare the plans and estimates for the site development of the barangay hall and the construction of the access road leading to the health center.

Both the barangay hall and the barangay health center sit in a 3,000-square meter lot that the city government purchased at a cost of Php 4.5 million over a year ago following negotiations between the city government, former Tumaga chairman Nonoy Fonollera and the lot owners.

The lot purchase paved the way for the construction of the two facilities during the term of barangay chairman Carolina Gaganting.

"We always say that many projects have been done, more are coming, the best is coming and this (barangay hall) is part of the best", the mayor said. "We do not promise things but we just do things."

Mayor Lobregat said similar barangay hall projects are also ongoing in other barangays such as Sinubong, Labuan and Putik. Numerous other barangay halls have already been completed and turned over. - PIA — ARA