Road is one of the highlights that a certain town or community is progressing. This is considered as one of the accelerators in the development of a nation. Transport of goods and services are better off when roads are constructed.
Cabuyao has eighteen (18) barangays. Six (6) barangays are located along the national highway, the other six (6) on the lakeshore of Laguna de Bay, three (3) urban barangays inside the Poblacion which was created under Presidential Decree No. 86 and three (3) on the Western part which is an elevated portion.
Barangay Casile is one of the small barangays in Cabuyao, Laguna located at the western part. It has a population of not more than 1000 people. Its total land area is approximately at 318 hectares. The road is still earth-filled. Their major products are mainly agricultural. To name a few, there are bananas, pineapples, coconuts and corns. The standard price ranges from Php 5.00 to Php 10.00. Of the total road length of Cabuyao, which is 31 kms., only 6% or approximately 1.95 kms comprises the earthly-filled road of Barangay Casile. This has been their problem ever since the barangay was established.
Our group in SS013-A12 went last November 8, 2008 (Thursday) to this barangay to conduct an interview on how the residents are affected by this problem on road infrastructure. From MCL, we took the Silangan-Canlubang route. It took us an hour before we reached our destination.
Most social services of the government were not enjoyed by most of the residents of the barangay. One of which was electricity. When we came to the location, most of our interviewee did not have electricity yet. According to these residents, the local government already told them that electricity will be built by the end of June 2008. But as we had observed, no electric posts or any electrical wires were seen.
Residents of the barangay were also having a hard time going to and from the location because there is only one jeepney that services these people. A regular employee who works at 7 in the morning must have to wake up at 3 just to catch up the 4 o’clock trip of that jeepney. Then, the next trip of that jeepney would be at 1 in the afternoon and the last for the day was at 6 in the evening.
Most students of Casile Elementary School had to walk 500 meters from their houses to the school. In turn, they also had to wake up early in the morning to catch up to their 7AM classes. The mothers of Grades 1 to 4 pupils usually accompany their children in going to their school. In effect, household chores were left undone. Some were transported thru a school service offered by neighbors.
Another “hassle” about the road in this barangay is the steep part. The road is purely soil, and when it rained, cars and other vehicles couldn’t pass thru it. There were already reported minor accidents due to this part of the road.
Their agricultural products, which are pineapples, corn, coconuts, and many others, are relatively cheap compared to public markets in nearby towns. Take pineapple for example. The price of pineapple in Casile is Php 5.00 per piece compared to the Php 15.00 per piece in the wet market. These sellers could’ve sold these products in a much higher price, but because of the burden brought about by the road, they couldn’t.
We interviewed the barangay captain and this was also his dilemma to the local government. They told him that the road will be constructed as soon as possible. According to the municipal government, they had already allotted a budget for the construction. The only question is when because the construction is still for bidding.
Constructing a road requires several components, according to Engr. Hermie M. Del Pilar, a Civil Engineer. First, its foundation must be firm. The soil beneath must be compressed thoroughly and as much as possible, there should be no space to make it strong. Next, the steel bars above the soil must be pure and strong.
In conclusion to this, the residents of Brgy. Casile is very much affected in their everyday activities. Their lives would’ve been better off with the road constructed.
