Alice, Sheriff Dannang and DPWH road repairs

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

Alice Adviento Castro, 53. “Edot” as was fondly called was a silent working mother of four and a caring wife to Tom, her husband and best friend for the past 35 years or so. I met the couple sometime in the mid 70s when Gordon Lightfoot and Pink Floyd were “on air.”

Tom would later alternate with me at The Gingerbreadman, the coffee shop-beer pub and “folkhouse” at the Cuesta Heritage building, and The Fireplace along Assumption Rd. together with the legendary Conrad Marzan, the unfading Bubut Olarte, Hector Cruz, Richard Arandia, Kaloy Medina, and etcetera.

Night scene during those years stood that way for a long while until she started dropping by after work from the Hyatt Terraces Hotel Baguio, to patiently wait and listen as Tom caps the tipsy night with a cheerful rendition of “Stupid Darling.” They would then ride a cab home to Pines Park .

When Tom was confined at the hospital, Edot became an uncomplaining “nurse and social worker” to him way back when caregivers were unheard of. I used to ask myself where Edot got her strength in going to work and at the same time, look after Tom and Melissa, their first child.

Edot took the chance to work at Hyatt Aruba after the Hyatt Terraces Baguio collapsed during the 1990 killer earthquake. Tom and their kids namely Melissa Thea, William Dahr, Cristina Sylvn and Anacosta Galeli later migrated there to reunite with Alice .

Two months ago, she began to encounter an unusual pain in the stomach while her skin and eyes started to yellow. Doctors suspected jaundice, the symptom for hepatitis. But it was not so because seven experts, according to Tom, discovered that Alice had bile duct cancer instead. She died May 26 on Melissa’s birthday.

Tom and the kids brought home Alice last Wednesday. Her remains now lie in state in Chapel A, La Funeraria Paz, Naguillan Rd. , Baguio City. Interment will be tomorrow Monday at the BaguioMemorial Park .

Certainly, the Almighty acts in mysterious ways. We are not in a position to question our fate. Some of us have shorter lives, some live longer. Others die at birth, some cheat death many times.

But what I suspect is that He wants us to move on and do the best that we can with life, after all the joys and pain. I know Tom and his kids. They will move on.
***
Lawyer Boyd Ngipol of the DOTC, together with his business partners will sponsor a benefit concert at the at the newly opened “The Ruins” restaurant and music bar at No. 01 Loakan Rd., Baguioon June 12, 2010.

Tickets will be at P100 only, all proceeds of which will be donated for the continuing dialysis treatment of Sherriff Tommy Dannang of the Baguio City Justice Hall. Please buy a ticket and help a good cause.

The musicians who will be sharing again their talents for free are Blugraz composed of singing lawyers Bubut “For a Better Baguio” Olarte, Rolly Vergara, Angie Cabrera, Nes Mondok and Alma Sarra; Thor the Great and Co., Trance Mission, Dalluyon, Binhi, Seldom Seen (and Seldom Practice), Propagandia, and many more.
***
The rehab or re-concreting of the road stretch from the Pines City Doctors Hospital at Barangay Happy Homes Lucban to the entrance of the Bell Church at Km.3 La Trinidad Rd. has caused inconvenience to the riding public and residents in the area.

Barangay Chair Eva Marie Fianza said she will file a complaint in behalf of her residents who are grumbling about the dust and the traffic the unannounced government project had caused.

Aside from being uninformed, the barangay was neither furnished any information about what activities will be done by the contractor, nor was it given any info on how long the residents and the riding public will suffer. In short, there is no calendar that announces how long the project will take to finish.

Punong Barangay Fianza further informed me that in fact she already has spent personal money in order to redirect traffic along that route since private vehicles and public transport have been passing through the Happy Homes road as an alternate route to and from Baguio .

An immediate inspection revealed that no billboard signs, a requirement in every road project, were installed by the contractor and DPWH. As a result, an accident resulting to death of a motorcycle passenger occurred sometime in the second week of May.

Initial reports said, the motorcycle from Trinidad was overtaking another motor vehicle and hit layers of rubber tires that were installed to barricade the other lane. Of course, the motorcycle and its riders somersaulted since the rubber tires were black in color and no visible or lighted directional signs were installed.

An engineer friend who used to work with the DPWH said government projects that start suddenly and mysteriously even during the election period have reasons.

What contractors do is to submit bank documents certifying that they have lots of millions, although in the end, they are after the advance payment or mobilization fund of the project.

“Kasano gamin ket pati ni apo DPWH ket agkakatay met nga mang-uray jay advance na!”
***
The Cervantes-Mankayan-Abatan Road which is being undertaken by China Harbor Engineeringand Construction under the supervision of PMO, DPWH is scheduled to be competed on June 23, 2010.

According to my DPWH insider, he saw the road construction when he went to attend a clan reuntion at Colalo, Mankayan in April 2010.

“The seemingly defective construction caught my eye so I did an impromptu inspection and sure enough I saw that the components were below quality,” he told me

He saw that there was only a sparse work force, there were no visible supervisors, only few equipment can be seen, and the newly paved road was not protected, leaving it to the mercy of vandals.

“My subsequent inspections were on April 23 and May 23, 2010 and there seems to be no urgency in the implementation of the balance of works despite the impending expiration of the contract,” the engineer said.

In 2008, many were making noise from all fronts regarding this project. Sadly, everybody's silent now despite the glaring deficiencies of the project – deficiencies that defy engineering and construction logic.

My DPWH insider said, the problem is the contractor firm can file its final billing if it has an accomplishment of 90 per cent. Based on their schedule which is questionably having a positive slippage, they have already breached the 90% accomplishment.

The Abatan-Mankayan-Cervantes road (Contract Package 5) is a project of the DPWH Central Office under PMO Engr. Francisco M. Sawali, Project Eng'r, PJHL (Philippine-Japan Highways Loan).

The project worth Php 682,075,911.74 is financed under the Loan Agreement No. PH-P217 (24th Yen Loan Package) dated May 30, 2001.

Total road length with exceptions - 31.302 kms. Net length - 25.401 kms. The project started on February 18, 2008. The revised target date is on June 23, 2010.

Given all the documents of this project, he said he can pinpoint all the concerns here “ngem nagrigat ti maymaysa nga agkutkuti.”

“I believe our new Congressman in the person of Congressman-elect Ronald Cosalan can intervene,” he said. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com