As I See It
The ‘hellish roads’ of Eastern Samar
By Neal Cruz
Philippine Daily InquirerFirst
Posted 00:59:00 02/11/2009
In the wake of the exposé about collusion and rigging by contractors and public officials of biddings for road projects funded by the World Bank comes the news of a thousand angry people in Eastern Samar province protesting the non-rehabilitation of a “hellish road” in the province, the main artery of Eastern Samar that link it to the Philippines-Japan national highway. Aside from a protest demonstration, they signed a petition demanding the immediate repair and rehabilitation of their highways and other national roads.
To say that Eastern Samar’s roads are littered with potholes is an understatement. As the photographs show, there are vast craters that sometimes make portions of roads virtually impassable. Some portions of the highway are planted with young coconut trees as a show of protest. Some craters are knee-deep and threaten the safety of motorists passing through these roads. Because these are national roads, the national government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), is responsible for maintaining them.
What is the problem? It is not lack of funds. It is a case of wrong priorities. It is misuse of government funds. The roads remain in bad shape despite the heavy infusion of national government funds — via the DPWH’s regular budget, plus the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)) and congressional insertions or initiative allocations (CI).
But judging from the terrible state of Eastern Samar’s roads, it would not be wrong to conclude that much of these multi-billion funds actually ended up in the pockets of the proponents. The reason for the deplorable state of some national highways, such as those in Eastern Samar is, in one word, “corruption.”
What anybody brave enough to traverse the province’s roads will see is that in the midst of the thousand and one potholes are many new road signs. Isn’t that strange? Records show that some P90 million in government funds have been spent on directional signs and traffic posts even before the roads could be built or re-paved. It’s a sin to procure these traffic signs, guardrails and posts when the money used to acquire and install them could have been better used to rehabilitate portions of Eastern Samar’s roads.
But instead of allocating funds for road improvements, the DPWH District Office, which is controlled by Rep. Teodulo Coquilla purchased road signs for road sections full of potholes. It is weird to see spanking new traffic signs and shiny guardrails on roads that look like they have been abandoned for decades.
Records show that these road signage projects include the installation of 181 pieces of road signs and two pieces of billboards that cost P4.78 million at the Camp-Junction Taft-Borongan road section and 358 pieces of traffic control posts at the same road section costing P4.679 million.
P4.65 million worth of guardrails and posts was also purchased for the Junction Taft-San Juan Road and another set also worth P4.65 million for the Borongan-Llorente Road. The DPWH District Office also bought the same set of materials for the same amount for the Oras-Arteche National Road.
Guardrails and posts were also installed at the San Julian-Borongan road section and at the Llorente-Junction Buenavista road to the tune of P4.65 million for each section. More than P10 million was spent by the DPWH for directional signs and highway traffic control posts for the Junction Taft-Oras National Road and Junction Taft-Dolores-San Eduardo sections.
The same sets of materials worth P4.67 million for each road section were also acquired for the Lawaan-Giporlos National Road; Buenavista-Guiuan and the Giporlos-Junction Buenavista National Road. At the Borongan-Guiuan Road section, 182 pieces of road signs were purchased for P4.81 million.
As if these wasteful expenditures were not enough, another P30 million was spent on more road signs and guardrails during the October-December 2008 period alone in the Buenavista-Malabag and Buenavista-Lawaan-Marabut sections.
On top of purchasing these traffic signs and devices, there are also reports about the profusion of ghost road projects in the province.
Fed up with this sad state of affairs, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan [Provincial Board], the Provincial Development Council, and the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council passed separate resolutions in June last year asking or authorizing the provincial governor to help in the improvement and rehabilitation of the national roads.
In a parallel move, Gov. Ben Evardone wrote the DPWH District Office twice last year asking permission to allow the province to help in the rehabilitation work with an initial budget of P10 million.
But according to Evardone, the DPWH did not act on his letters. This is strange because the provincial government can do the repair work, considering that it has its own pool of equipment for the purpose, plus the initial fund approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
Why did the DPWH refuse help from the government of the province where it obviously needs all the help it can get to fix the mess of the national roads? The answer lies in a rumor in the provincial capital of Borongan that the DPWH is sitting on the offer of Evardone on the say-so of a congressman who is afraid that the governor will get the credit for the road rehabilitation.
Finally, the people of Eastern Samar are asking where the P1.3 million monthly maintenance fund, or P16 million a year, is being spent. During an investigation by the Sanggunian, a DPWH engineer admitted that part of the fund is being used to pay the salaries of casual employees of the district office of a congressman.
Will the DPWH main office please do something about this?
