Pavia could be next component city if only…

By Art Jimenez

 

Former Pavia Mayor and Rep. Arcadio H. “Cadio” Gorriceta, 74, was laid to his eternal rest by his family, relatives, friends, and fellow Pavianon Monday afternoon at Christ the King Memorial Park.

Cadio was a College of Business alumnus of UP-Diliman and was a dorm-mate of then law student and bosom buddy Franklin Drilon. Cadio was a businessman when then President Erap Estrada appointed him Commissioner of the Sugar Regulatory Commission in 1998.

He ran and won as mayor of Pavia in 2004 partly to keep alive and continue the legacy of his older brother Mayor Jun (Felix H. Gorriceta Jr.). He completed his three 3-year terms as Hizzoner of the smallest Iloilo town (but only in area). He ran to represent the 2^nd District of Iloilo in Congress and served two 3-year terms from 2013-2019.

He built his congressional district practically from the ground up: horizontal infras like barangay roads, construction and cementing of roads, and bridges; vertical structures like school buildings and covered gyms; educational and health assistance, tourism (think Bucari) development. One timeless favor to his constituents are the circumferential roads that straddle a great portion of Pavia and intersects with the ten-lane highway leading to the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo and thus bringing Pavia much closer to Iloilo City and environs.

Having at least four malls almost side by side and across each other is a jaw-dropping spectacle to the first-timers in the area.

Such magnets to consumers from near and far naturally cause horrendous traffic in the morning and afternoon rush hours, during which time rushing is impossible.

Traffic solution was a given: flyovers. Put simply a flyover suggests flying over a heavy traffic zone. Aside from decongesting traffic at busy intersections, flyovers also save motorists travel time (and exasperation), and fuel. Vehicular traffic beneath the flyover moves unhampered. Equally important, pedestrians are afforded ease of movement and crossing underneath the structure.

One vital external economy that a flyover brings is it facilitates travel to an Iloilo City that’s focused on, for one, attracting meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (M.I.C.E.)

With the incessant assistance from Senator Drilon, two flyovers are now in the making just about two kilometers apart along the same highway.

The Brgy. Ungka Dos Flyover spans 453.70 meters and will be built at a cost of P480 million. Some five minutes away is the Brgy. Aganan Flyover of 436.90 meters costing P560 million. Construction period is calculated at 24 months each.

A third and a fourth flyover (in Brgy Jibao-an, Pavia and Brgy Buhang, Jaro) are in the offing.

All four are part of the infra program of the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic and Development Council and is under the general supervision of the DPWH-WV.

It’s rather unfortunate Cong. Cadio has not lived long enough to see these development-oriented infra projects come to fruition. However, his kasimanwa can rest easy as Cadio has successfully created the Gorriceta dynasty that’s honed in on dedicated public service.

Cadio’s legacy and vision lives on in his son Michael and nephew Lawrence. Mike has succeeded his father Cadio as Pavia mayor and 2^nd District congressman while Luigi now serves as Pavia mayor.

I’m sure Cadio would be smiling ear-to-ear in heaven if he could see his Pavia graduate into a component city of the province. It has already exceeded twice the annual income requirement of P100 million required by R.A. 9009. It only has to hurdle either one of these two prerequisites to qualifying for a component city status: “a contiguous territory of at least one hundred (100) square kilometers… and a population of not less than one-hundred-fifty thousand (150,000) inhabitants, as certified by the Philippine Statistics Authority.”

Sadly Pavia does not qualify on either count. It occupies an area of only 27.2 sq. km. and has a population of just above 60,000. But if Cong. Mike Gorriceta can file a bill amending RA 9009 by reducing the required area to 25 sq. km., then Pavia could qualify as a component city.

After all, Makati City, the financial capital of the country, is only 27.4 sq. km. big.