Calapan City Mayor-elect Doy Leachon pledged to complete the construction of the Calapan City Coliseum after conducting an ocular inspection of the stalled project on Friday with Oriental Mindoro 1st District Congressman Arnan C. Panaligan.

The coliseum project, which began in 2021 during Panaligan’s final term as mayor, has remained unfinished for nearly three years due to changes in city leadership.

The facility was initially conceived as a major infrastructure project for the provincial capital.

“The new administration will immediately complete the construction of the Calapan City Coliseum,” Leachon said following the site inspection.

Panaligan, who served as Calapan mayor from 2013 to 2022 before being elected to Congress, has allocated funds in the 2025 National Budget for a road network around the coliseum.

The P50 million Masipit-Sta. Isabel Connector Road project will link to existing roads built by the city government before Panaligan’s mayoral term ended in 2022.

The connector road is expected to ease traffic congestion on the national highway affecting the barangays of Tawiran, Masipit and Sta. Isabel.

Leachon agreed to allow the road project to pass through city government property.

Panaligan, who was instrumental in Calapan’s conversion from municipality to city status in 1998, previously served as mayor from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2013 to 2022. He successfully ran for the House of Representatives in 2022.

The completion of both the coliseum and connector road projects would be a milestone infrastructure development for Calapan City, the only city in Mindoro island.

Photos: courtesy of Rep. Arnan Panaligan’s FB Page