TABACO CITY, Albay—The once feared 25-kilometer isolated Sabloyon stretch in Albay has turned into a busy route for motorists and travelers to and from Metro Manila.
Stretching the cities of Tabaco (1st District) and Ligao (3rd District), the once neglected mountainous Sabloyon route was a frequent site of highway robbery incidents and intermittent skirmishes between government troops and the New People’s Army rebels.
Motorists in the first district of the province and the island Catanduanes, now enjoys a traffic-free and comfortable travel to Camarines Sur onward to Manila without anymore passing the 55-kilometer long route via the cities of Legazpi (2nd District) and Ligao.
According to Engineer Cesar Sanorjo, chief of the Construction Section of the Albay 1st District Engineering, motorists no longer fear traveling the Sabloyon route 24/7 virtually treating the insurgency threat as a thing of the past as a result of the improvements and widening of the route to four-lane.
Now completely concreted with the Tabaco side fully widened to four-lane, the ascending high level mid-portion of Sabloyon route between Tabaco and Ligao spanning four barangay villages estimated 4,000-plus feet above the sea level is overlooking closer to Mayon where local and foreign tourists on clear days enjoy taking photos and videos of the alluring and perfect cone of Mt. Mayon.
Early last year, asst. regional director Armando Estrella disclosed that overall, the DPWH has able to complete 35 percent in its road widening on section by section.