DPWH rejoinder to Avila’s column

Dear Mr. Avila:

This is in response to your newspaper editorial entitled “DPWH’s incompetence and lack of urgency, “under the column “Shooting Straight” published in the national newspaper, The Philippine STAR, last December 2, 2014 as well as your newspaper editorial entitled ‘’Readers also complain vs. DPWH!” under a similarly named column, “Shooting Straight/, published in the local newspaper, The Freeman, last December 5, 2014.

First, in your December 2 editorial in The Philippine STAR, the following complaints were mentioned:

1. “The road widening of A.S. Fortuna Ave. has been going on nearly for a year already with no end in sight. If you go around, you will see the diggings along the whole stretch and on both sides of the road with no one working on it.”

2. “(You) passed by H. Cortes last Sunday and yes nearly 80% of the road works remain uncompleted.”

3. “In fact, thanks to DPWH’s transparency program, no one knows who the contractor of these road projects is. They could very well be ‘special or favored friends’ of DPWH, many of them come from Metro Manila.”

4. “Above all, the safety and convenience of motorists are never taken into consideration when they close major roads for repairs.”

On the other hand, in your December 5 editorial in The Freeman, the following complaints were raised:

1. “H. Cortes is not only being cemented for a year now, and they haven’t even done half of it yet. Worse is that the rest of the asphalt to Cabahug St., aside from the potholes, has been sporadically punctured with · a backhoe pointed attachment in preparation to removing all the old asphalt xxx. That’s also probably a year now.”

2. “There’s supposedly a bridge-widening going to Ateneo de Cebu ... big construction equipment park their units beside the bridge, which happens to block the parking space of the owner of the house they parked. Result: the owner’s car was parked on the side near the bridge.” “Did you know that they already destroyed the bridge handle last July? Then they put some GI sheet to cover the side of the lane. As you also noticed, they don’t work on Saturdays and Sundays where there are fewer cars.”

3. “Referring to road intersection in AS Fortuna. The road to Mandaue foam/Queensland? (4got name of Road). Xxx It is almost a year already & the DPWH has destroyed the road right of way and waited for almost a year to repair the road.”

In view of the foregoing, this Office conducted a fact finding investigation thereon. Resultantly, it was able to identify the details of the DPWH projects mentioned in both the above complaints.

As regards your complaint relative to the implementation of the construction works in A.S. Fortuna, Ave., contained under your December 2, 2014 editorial, the projects being currently implemented thereat are the following: (1) Project named Rehabilitation/Improvement (Concreting) of AS Fortuna Street, Mandaue City, under contract with PB Obial Construction and being implemented by the DPWH Cebu 6th District Engineering Office [DEO]; (2) the project entitled Construction / Improvement / Rehabilitation of Drainage Facilities along AS Fortuna Street, Mandaue City, under contract with WTG Construction and Development Corporation [‘WTG’l, joint venture with Virlo Construction and likewise being implemented by the DPWH Cebu 6th DEO; and (3) the project named Construction / Rehabilitation of Flood Control at A.S. Fortuna, Mandaue City, under contract with PB Obial Construction and being implemented by the DPWH Regional Office VII.

As regards the project in M.L. Quezon Avenue, which was mentioned in both your abovementioned editorials, the one involved therein is the project named Rehabilitation/Improvement of M.L. Quezon Avenue, Mandaue City, under contract with WTG Construction and Development Corp. and being implemented by the DPWH Cebu 6th DEO.

Lastly, the bridge project being implemented in Canduman which was likewise mentioned in both your above editorials, has been identified as the one named Widening of Canduman Bridge at Butuanon River Along Governor Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City, under contract with Virlo Construction and being implemented by the DPWH Cebu City DEO.

After having identified the same, this Office directed the concerned District Engineers as well as the Project Engineer, as regards this Office’s project involved therein, to submit their comment on the abovementioned complaints. Subsequently, they submitted their respective comments thereon, copies of which are hereto attached, the summary of each are hereunder set forth:

First, as regards the three projects being implemented in AS Fortuna St., Mandaue City, as per records, the Concreting Project under contract with P.B. Obial Construction is ahead of its time schedule. Specifically, as per contract, its target accomplishment date is on August 20, 2015 while its expected present percentage completion is 87.00%, however, as of December 3, 2014, it already has a physical accomplishment of 95.00%. For the Drainage Facilities Rehabilitation Project under contract with WTG it already has a 27.22% physical accomplishment which is above the target of 20.00%. Meanwhile, for the Flood Control Project under contract with P.B. Obial Construction, the implementation thereof is, as evidenced by the attached pictures, being hampered by the recently discovered underground utility lines separately owned by several private utilities (i.e. PLDT/ MCWD & San Miguel Corp.) as well as by obstructing electric posts. Despite the foregoing, as of November 25, 2014, the project is still on time with a work accomplishment of 66.35% as compared to the target percentage of accomplishment of 65.3%.

Anent the project Bridge Widening Project in Canduman/ the same was suspended due to the delay in the relocation of electric posts by the Visayan Electric Company as well as the mandate of the DENR to stop the cutting and pruning of trees in the area. Moreover, the contractor proposed to work 24/7 to hasten the accomplishment of the project but the City of Cebu Local Government Unit (LGU) restricted the work of the contractor only to 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. daily. To add to this predicament, the Cebu City LGU issued a moratorium which prohibited work from December 16 up to the third week of January 2015 or after the Sinulog Festival. The bridge railing, or handles as per the above column, was removed to widen the existing bridge and connect it to the widened section of the new bridge. However, in view of the suspension of the project, GI sheets were installed to serve as temporary replacement of the demolished railings for the safety and protection of the public. To cope with the resultant traffic, a revised traffic scheme was imposed. Informative signs were installed to guide the motorists and flagmen were stationed to supervise the flow of traffic.

Additionally, the issue as to the lack of transparency on the identity of the contractors is utterly unmeritorious. COA and DPWH billboards displayed at the project site clearly show the name of the contractors, as can be seen in the attached photos. This information can also be obtained in the Department’s website. The contractors for the aforesaid projects are Cebu-based and all contractors who participated in the procurement activities passed through stringent bidding process.

On the observation that no one was working on the roads when he passed by the project site, this is due to the standard practice that all major works of this Department are done during the nighttime so as to avoid undue inconvenience to the public and further aggravating the traffic conditions. This practice also assures the safety and well-being of the public belying the claims that this Department does not take into consideration the safety and convenience of motorists. Only minor works are done during daytime, and signages and traffic advisories are installed at the project sites.

As can be seen from the foregoing, this Department has actually been steadfast in delivering reliable and prompt services to the public. — Ador G. Canlas, Ceso IV, Regional Director, Department of Public Works and Highways