DPWH hit for failure to fix ‘killer’ Benguet road

By Dexter A. See

TUBA, Benguet -- The chairman of the House committee on public works here recently criticized the leadership of the Department of Public Works and Highways for failure to formulate plans to prevent vehicular accidents along the steep portion of the Marcos highway which had been branded as a “killer” highway in the Cordillera.

Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan, chairman of the House committee on public works, said from January 2005 to date, 52 people died while 235 individuals were injured because of accidents along the steep 3.2-km stretch.

Since the matter was brought to the attention of Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson over a year ago when he personally visited the accident-prone portion of the Marcos highway, the agency has not come out with recommendations on how to fix the road.

From January to the present, ten vehicular accidents happened along the dangerous roadline involving buses and delivery trucks where 11 persons were injured while no deaths were reported.

Considering that the rainy season will be too dangerous for vehicles plying the road, Cosalan recommended to technical people of the DPWH to prioritize the completion of the required program of work for the regarding and rehabilitation of the 3.2-kilometer “killer” portion of the highway along the Badioan section.

According to the lawmaker, the grade of roads in the region must conform with international standards as earlier pronounced by Singson in his recent visit here, thus, programs of work for the road must be completed and implemented the soonest.

In 1998, Marcos highway was a recipient of a P1.2 billion loan from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) for its conversion into an “all-weather road” through the construction of state-of-the-art slope protection walls, widened road sections, paved road surfaces and improved drainage systems.

DPWH-Cordillera technical personnel earlier pegged rehabilitation of the road section at P150 million that cuts through several private properties along the roadline.

Except for the “killer” portion of the highway, most of the portions of the road were considered to be at par with international standards.