Letter To The Editor: Goodbye yellow brick road (oops! I mean blacktop.)

On the issue of disappearing and collapsing 'black top' roads all over the Province, I can at least confirm one that I didn't see mentioned and that is the Bantayan Town to Sillion/ Kangkaibe road that was completed maybe two (?) years ago. The last time I drove down there some months ago the road was in a terrible state; it has since been 'patched up' under the terms, one assumes of the warranty that was issued on completion of the project.

I am not a civil engineer, neither do I hold a BA in Broadcast Communications, but I did work on civil engineering projects abroad so I did pick up some layman's idea about how a Tarmac, or even a cement road is constructed.

The cross section of a Tarmac road is easy to understand; it's basically a sandwich with a sub base, base course, sub grade and then the wear layer of a bituminous surface on the top. (All of these items carrying particular specifications to conform to BS, ASTM, DIN or whatever standards the Philippines use)

Watching the construction of the aforementioned road it did seem odd to me that the specification being implemented was basically grading the road with a grader, (making it level) laying chalk, compressing this chalk with a road roller (chalk? Isn't this a bit porous, doesn't it break down in water when the inevitable leaching of ground moisture starts to penetrate?) and then layering it over with hot bitumen. The sort of thing that might be used on my driveway that carries a pick up truck every two days.

As, I understand it, these lovely black tops are part of a 'farm to market' program of providing good roads so trucks can run up and down on them all day long and get product to market quickly, safely and efficiently; brilliant concept long overdue.

The governor's comments of, 'No money has been wasted, (Please, we know that the Provincial Government never, ever wastes our money!) all repairs are done under a five year warranty and we haven't paid the contractors yet anyway' seems odd. What on earth has that got to do with anything? The fact that the Province is tardy and doesn't operate a 'prompt payment' system is also alarming. Surely, these contracts operate on a deposit, interim payments, then final payment basis with % retention held for the duration of the 'so-called warranty' anyway.

Look every one, it's simple to follow, either:

· The specifications drawn up by the Chief Engineer of roads and highways - whatever it's called - were wrong or inadequate, or in 'error'..

· Or the consulting supervision by the engineering dept of the Province was weak/ inadequate

· Or the contractor (s) didn't install the road correctly or follow the material and installation specifications.

These are the simple options - which one is it?

And why is the governor involving herself in such trivial matters of project 'snag lists'? Doesn't she have minions and that sort of thing to deal with this? No press officer? Chief Engineer? Has our Province only a single voice?

Doubtless, this road will lead somewhere, like the road to hell, paved with good intentions, but we shall have to 'wait and see', like good Filipinos should.