DPWH: Not all roads are ‘matuwid’

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- Quoting Assistant Regional Director NerieBueno of the DPWH-Cordillera in a presscon last week, she admitted that “syempre, meron din likongdaansa highways…” Literally for many, they would imagine roads going left and right.

But the topic in that presscon was all about efforts to reform the agency reform from what many perceive it to be.

What came into the mind when ARD Bueno made the statement was that she was being honest by admitting that there were also “bad eggs” or unfit employees in the agency.

The primary implementor of government funded public infrastructure has been called many other names as its acronym DPWH has been the subject of hecklers.

I have in my list two meanings. One is “Department of People Without Honesty.” The other one is “Dating PeraWalangHirap.”

Of course, these are not true since there are no such agencies in any corner of this planet. But these may be the reasons why Secretary Rogelio Singson s out to implement a non-infra project this time which is “DPWH Transformation.”

As I looked for sincerity in the faces of each of the DPWH-Cordillera office heads in the presscon, minus Regional Director Ed Carabbacan who was out on official business in Manila, I had the feeling that most of them were one with Sec. Singson’s vision-mission.

Sec. Singson is out to check if DPWH workers are effective as he is in to inculcating in the minds of his subordinates “values formation.”

Lawyer Rex Paderes, Administrative Division Chief confirmed this saying the DPWH is now trying to correct bureaucratic inefficiency to attain the “matuwidnadaan” government of PNoy. As press con host Richard Valdez had said, this comes at a fitting time when the DPWH is seen as an agency on top of the list of graft ridden government agencies in the country.

To prove that Sec. Singson cancelled more than P900 M worth of negotiated projects and sacked at least three highly placed employees, an act which he said ends “a long period of bad habits.” Those dismissed were Philip Meñez who headed the Office of Major Flood Control and Drainage Project Cluster, assistant director Fidel Gines and MarichuPalafox of the DPWH Accounting Division.

Earlier, the DPWH implemented PNoy’s ban on the placing of names and pictures of politicians on project billboards. Singson also cancelled JICA-funded 19 negotiated contracts for typhoons ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Peping’ that are now undergoing rebidding. The DPWH has also reduced the requirements for public bidding as the more than 15 requirements asked of bidders were shortened to only five requirements to include the bid price, bid security, certification of compliance with all registration requirements, and the latest financial contracting capability.

But the DPWH is not alone in its fight to cleanse the department. Truth is, there are other graft-ridden government regional agencies that want to rid their offices of corrupt workers.

That however remains to be seen if they are in line with PNoy’s “matuwidnadaan.” In other words, as many in the Cordillera put it, they say, “Kitaentayu man!”

ARD Bueno also had reasons why the DPWH is always at the helm when it comes to topics on corruption in government service. For example, she said public road constructions become more noticeable in highly urbanized areas like Baguio City and are prone to receiving good and bad criticisms, as compared to Apayao where one can see only three or four or no motor vehicles on the road at any given time.

In a visit to Pasil the other week, we saw that the Lubuagan Junction-BatongBuhay road was in very bad shape.

When asked if there were plans by the DPWH to rehabilitate the road, Engr. David A. Buliyat, Chief of Planning and Design who claimed to have worked with Philex Mines when the company operated the mines said, the only request so far is a Farm-to-Market road for Pasil from Mayor James Edubba. Buliyat said since there were no more mining activities in Batong-Buhay, improvement of the road stopped.

By the way, Buliyat further clarified that after an inspection, the proposed Badiwan rerouting plan is not feasible since the grade and inclination of the road would increase and the start up velocity for motor vehicles would not be easy to gain especially for heavy loaded trucks and lowland drivers who are not used to driving on mountainous terrain.

Engineer Constante Sarmiento, chief of the Maintenance Division meanwhile said, flood control projects along Balili were scheduled to be finished in 90 days.

Relative to this, Benguet Congressman Ronald M. Cosalan who observed that there was no work being done in one of the flood control projects behind BSU in La Trinidad said the flood control projects were requested to be fast tracked by Singson, otherwise these could be cancelled and contractors will be blacklisted – marchfianza777@yahoo.com