By Manly Ugalde – April 1, 2018
LEGAZPI—Malacañang has finally stepped in to ensure public safety in roads, warning local government executives with mandatory compliance 24/7.
In Memorandum Circular 208-30 dated March 7, 2018, Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año said President Duterte has emphasized during a recent Cabinet meeting about the recurring complaints of Filipinos regarding stalled and ongoing road projects and the dangers they pose to the public.
The massive road- and bridge- widening program recorded close to 8,000 road accidents in Albay alone from 2015 to 2016, the Philippine National Police said.
Año’s memorandum mandated local chief executives and local offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to see to it that contractors properly notify the public in advance through posters and tarpaulins, including lightings at night time prior to the implementation of the project until completion, or face sanctions. The circular also warned delay in the completion of projects.
Local officials, however, describe Año’s memorandum as a mere reiteration of past secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which unfortunately landed only on desks without actions from local officials concerned.
Citing the vanishing official billboards on projects that had long been embodied in the bidding process, most infrastructure projects in Bicol are simply started and completed without the billboard.
The official billboard, which has become an effective tool concerning the transparency program, forms part of the Commission on Audit circular, titled “Information and Publicity on Programs/Projects/Activities of Government Agencies.” It shall contain information, such as the source of funds, name of project, project cost, name of contractor, date started and completion date.
Then-Bicol Regional Party Committee Chairman and New People’s Army (NPA) commander Sotero Llamas strongly slammed the DPWH about the vanishing billboard on projects being done in collaboration with politicians.
Contractors have reportedly been complaining the billboards have become a leeway for the NPA rebels to impose revolutionary taxes on projects.
But, a month before his ambush and murder in Tabaco City in 2012, Llamas denied in an interview with journalists at the Legazpi airport site the allegations of the contractors, saying corrupt engineers, contractors and politicians simply hated the posting of billboards on project to avoid scrutiny from the public.
On March 8, 2017, then-newly installed Bicol DPWH regional director Danilo Versola was briefed and interviewed by journalists about the vanishing billboards on projects and the rampant obstructions in roads as a result of the massive roads and bridge widening. Versola promised to act on the complaint.
With a whooping P74-billion budget for Bicol, however, the issues about the vanishing billboards continued to haunt the DPWH, with Versola nearing retirement come August 2018.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/lgus-dpwh-ordered-to-enforce-safety-measures-in-albay-roads/
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