Like It Is
Am I getting soft in the head?
By Peter WallaceI went to a refreshing meeting the other day. Officers of the Management Association of the Philippines met with Public Works Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson.
I went to a refreshing meeting the other day. Officers of the Management Association of the Philippines met with Public Works Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson.
I want to call the attention of the concerned authorities to the Barili-Dumanjug road in south Cebu. This road (after 13 years) was finally repaired and surfaced in 2012, except for the last three kilometers or thereabout going toward the Dumanjug boundary. Pocked with so many potholes, this stretch is the worst part of the road, and yet this seems to have been deliberately neglected.
Oh no, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will go ahead with its bullheaded plan to “repair” the whole length of Edsa before alternate routes are found for the thousands of vehicles that will be displaced from Edsa because of the repair work. The repairs will take two years, which means Edsa will be hell on earth for at least two years. The DPWH has been able to convince Metro Manila mayors to agree to the massive repairs, and some people have already voiced their suspicions of the reasons the mayors were persuaded.
The Department of Public Works and Highways should not waste money raising General Luna Road and Governor Pascual Avenue and two or three bridges in Malabon City. They will not mitigate but instead worsen the flooding of our homes.
President Aquino announced in his latest State of the Nation Address that one of his big projects is an elevated roadway interconnecting the NLEx (North Luzon Expressway) and the SLEx (South Luzon Expressway), and that it would be finished by 2015. The two toll roads will greatly lessen the traffic jams in Metro Manila, especially [...]
In gentle, early-morning light seven days before his third State of the Nation Address, President Aquino in a yellow shirt-jac strode on a gravel path to the edge of a gully in the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s Stilling Basin area in La Mesa Dam. He came to push the ceremonial button inaugurating the recently completed Phase 2 of the Angat Water Utilization and Aqueduct Improvement Project (AWUAIP), a long-range program to provide safe water to millions in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.
This refers to the published concern of Pedro Refuerzo Jr. of 6737 Taylo St., Makati City, re “Dark stretch of Osmeña Highway poses danger to the public” (Inquirer, 5/11/12).
A lot of people have asked me why the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and its contractors are tearing up Metro Manila streets that are still in perfect condition only to cement them all over again, while so many other streets that are in very bad condition are not being repaired. Alas, I have no answer to that (although many of us have our suspicions); only the DPWH has the answer to the mystery.
After Tropical Storm “Ondoy” wreaked havoc in Metro Manila in 2009, the poor living along its rivers and waterways have to endure anxiety over government’s repeated calls for the relocation of all informal settlements on these so-called danger zones. Authorities say the settlements are “blocking” the natural flow of water and relocation would keep informal settlers out of harm’s way. But the informal settlers say they have the right to remain in the city and that transferring them to far-flung resettlement areas where there are no viable means of livelihood would threaten their survival. They challenge government to dismantle as well the malls and affluent subdivisions occupying floodplains along rivers.
The Department of Public Works and Highways is now in an uproar over the emergency repair of the Osmeña flyover crossing Gil Puyat (formerly Buendia) Avenue—a showcase project for Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson. He promised to complete it in 120 days. He did make the deadline—but at what cost? One month after its completion, [...]
