Who was this bureaucrat?
We are always pleased every time we see government projects, especially infrastructure undertakings, being implemented. When an elementary or a high school building goes up, we feel confident that a necessary part of the needs of our youth, "bellaesperanza de la patria mia" according to Dr. Rizal, is attended to. Where a new wharf is being built, the gratitude of our traveling public flows from the realization of inter-connecting the islands of our archipelago. In fact, when former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, placed billboards that read "this is where your taxes are being spent" wherever work on projects were on-going, we viewed such advertisements, not in the subliminal political message that it was really intended, but in a positive note of him being a wise spender of public funds.
But, last week, I had an entirely different feeling when I saw the start of the work on Imus Street and Gen Maxilom Avenue, here in Cebu City. I was angry to see the "ruins" of those streets after a crew of workers, using heavy equipment scraped the smooth layers of asphalt overlay. If my use of the word "ruins" is an exaggeration, it is meant to demonstrate the indignation that wrapped my otherwise forgiving heart.
I travel on these roads daily either on my way to the university where I teach, or to my law office. I do not have to get an engineering degree to know that the asphalt on these roads is smoother than on any major avenue in our city. Either the contractor who worked on them years ago had a "triple A" rating to uphold (and I do not know who he was!) or the quality of his work surpassed best known standards.
What I am trying to say in an obviously circuitous way is that there is no repair that is needed on these roads. As they were before their destruction, few days ago, Imus Street and Gen. Maxilom Avenue could still impress the thousands of visitors we expect next year to attend an international regional forum our country is hosting.
Whoever was the bureaucrat who conceptualized the destruction of these roads was unthinking. Truth to tell, I thought of using the word "stupid" to describe him but that would be very disrespectful as it is unchristian. And even that description is too kind. Indeed, that bureaucrat should be shot at the Luneta. Because of his concept, government is going to waste huge part of our taxes. That is right, I really mean waste in the sense that it is totally unnecessary. It can be worse than plunder because the amount taken by an act of a plunderer is not multiplied.
Why? The fresh asphalt overlay that is going to be applied on Imus and Gen Maxilom must be worth millions of pesos. The value of the project is printed on the billboard that is placed at the starting point of the work but I did not care to read it anymore in the fear that my blood boils even more. But, here is the whammy. That staggering sum, whatever it is, does not stand by itself alone. The cost of the previous asphalt has to be reckoned with. The amount had to be collated because the asphalt that was scraped was still very much useful as it was smooth. And considering that it was a premium work, it must have also cost high. So destroying what was still useful was, in effect an added cost.
If that bureaucrat imagined of an infrastructure government project that would impress our visitors, he could have envisioned of spending millions of pesos to open new highways. Never mind if he has not read of the inter state road network of the late American President Dwight Eisenhower, still, he would know that a wide and modern mountain road that connects Barangays Buhisan of Cebu City's south district and Cambinocot of the north district can be most useful, aside from its being the first such connection. Because this bureaucrat has no salutary vision, our government is going to waste a huge part of our otherwise limited fund availability. With men of his kind in the government, who needs plunderers?
- Latest
