Owner of 2-kilometer portion of South Circumferential Road in Alijis

Bacolod might close road

The owner of the two-kilometer portion of the South Circumferential Road in Barangay Alijis, Bacolod might close down his property unless his demand for payment is addressed.

Businessman Cesar Nerpiol Ledesma, the landowner, told newsmen this morning, the government has been using part of his land as a highway since 1972.

It is a two-kilometer portion of the busy circumferential road from the Emilia J. Garcia Elementary School area in Alijis to the south, where vehicles from the north going to Handumanan, Cabug, Sum-ag and further south also pass through.

Ledesma said he already wrote Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar about it, adding that Villar has already acted on it and has referred it to the DPWH in the lone district of Bacolod.

“I already got the assurances of our local officials, not only about the highway that belongs to me, but also about a dilapidated access road east of the circumferential road where many community residents are using everyday. It seems like all we got were empty promises,” Ledesma said.

“If Christmas time comes and nothing is done to the access road, then I might as well close down the two-kilometer portion of the circumferential road since it is mine and no government compensation was given to me since it was used as a highway in 1972,” he also said.

Ledesma is calling on officials in the local DPWH and government offices to “walk their talk” they made two years ago.

Everytime we follow up about the access road and the highway, we are given assurances but nothing has been done until now, he added.