Why fix roads that are not broken?

This is to bring to the attention of the concerned government authorities the questionable ongoing asphalt laying of the roads in Marikina City. I was surprised last week to see Ordoñez or Molave Street, a well-paved road with concrete cement, being paved with asphalt materials, and now the whole stretch of the said street was completely asphalted. A week after I noticed that more concrete roads were being paved with asphalt when they were not even in bad condition to begin with. This is nonsense and must be stopped.

I have an inkling that this is probably what my friends in Marikina used to tell me—that road pavement is the favorite project of corrupt local officials to raise money for their reelection campaigns. The elections are fast approaching, after all. But sayang naman ang pera ng taongbayan. Hindi naman sira pero pinapagawa at pagkatapos ay ipagagawa ulit dahil mahina o substandard materials ang ginagamit for road projects. I believe the original concrete road was durable and would have lasted for many more years, even decades. Sayang talaga.

SONIA TAN-GALURA
Fortune, Marikina City