LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

SM’s soulless condotels; streamlining DPWH
March L. Fianza

The Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club congratulates one of its past presidents Eliral Refuerzo, publisher of The Baguio Reporter. On June 10 your publication will be on its 18th year. To the editorial staff, the opinion writers, readers, advertisers and countless supporters – we intend to see you in this paper in the next 18 years.
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It is not enough that Baguio City officials, according to their own perception, simply inform their constituents that SMDC “might no longer push through with their plan to build on the mini forest” beside the Baguio Convention Center. That is not good news as of yet until such time that an official statement is issued by the would-be tree killers.

Although Baguio folks who are for maintaining one of the city’s remaining green environment are a bit elated with that news, a clear-cut statement coming from SM and GSIS should be in order. A city council resolution is most welcome. A policy that would spell out terms concerning constructions on forests would finally put an end to all doubts.

At this time when the SM-GSIS deal has just been out of the bag, legislators should jump the gun and pass stricter measures to stop the proponents from continuing with their plan to kill hundreds of trees and build on the lot. The law should apply to all. As mandated, lawmakers as representatives of the people lead in paving the path for their community’s future.

Sometimes doubtful eyes see it the other way around. It appears like the city’s future is being shaped by private interest groups, especially the moneyed ones, with our public servants becoming subservient to them. Next year, Baguio will celebrate her hundredth year as a chartered city and launches a new life for another hundred years. If we allow the condotels to rise on the spot where the trees used to be, all those who were opposed to the plan would be throwing curses at SM everytime they glance at the buildings.

Everytime we pass by the condotels we will be reminded of the trees that used to stand there and how they were killed by a soulless businessman because of greed for money. There would be bad blood between the host city and her business migrant. Relationships do not have to be bad. Everyone can co-exist in this mountain city if only we respect the sentiment of our host. To our lawmakers, it would be nice if the city comes under a new set of environmental laws that would mold her into a better place for the next hundred years.
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It is not so often that I pass by the highway in Urdaneta until last week. I noticed that the road construction within the central business district has not considerably moved percentage wise. To me, it looked the same as it was when reconstruction started about 10 years ago. We do not know why it is taking the agency too long to finish the government project. Friends in the construction business say there are at least five big reasons why projects are delayed.

These are non-release of funds, change of work programs, natural calamities, man-made delays such as those caused by consultants, and the load of projects being handled by the department. With an agency fund that comes annually in the General Appropriations Act in addition to its surplus fund and savings, plus bonuses allocated by congressmen in their districts, there should be no reason why road projects are not finished on schedule.

Reconstruction for the Urdaneta road section has dragged too long for no good reason, except that it gets flooded during heavy rains. But then, flooding does not occur the whole year. Aside from setbacks due to natural calamities, necessary reprogramming of engineering designs may be a reason for the delay. But again, engineering designs may not be reprogrammed so as to cause long delays. Apart from that, consultants who are no less than racketeers and want to lengthen their ‘services’ also cause delays.

That is why commuters can not avoid speculating that the delays in road works and other projects are deliberate. All of these may be cleaned in one sweep depending on the determination of the head of the office to resolve these problems. But the one thing that he can not control is the workload of the department. In many instances, big government projects were overlooked or were not inspected properly, giving undue embarrassment to visiting dignitaries. The rehabilitation of the Halsema and Benguet-Vizcaya roads are classic examples.

One lonely ‘hands-on’ department secretary can not possibly make rounds to inspect all public work projects under him. Office workers and field engineers said there is an answer to that – something that has always been the clamor of employees and engineers before them. The solution: streamline the Department of Public Works and Highways by creating a separate department for roads, bridges and highways. Other infrastructure works such as construction of public schools, footbridges, waiting sheds, day-care centers, senior citizens buildings, clinics, hospitals, airports, etc. may be handled by another department created for the purpose, or by the LGU concerned.

During the term of the late Pres. Marcos, for instance, agriculture and natural resources were under one department, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANR). The 1987 Constitution streamlined the department into two agencies. In fact there is one division office in the DPWH that concentrates on all toll gates nationwide. Streamlining the DPWH into separate agencies that can concentrate on respective concerns is not a bad idea. In case that part of the law is amended, government infrastructure load will be lighter and concentration will be focused. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com