CEBU, Philippines — Former Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell refuted claims that the incumbent administration inherited a backlog of asphalting projects, asserting that former mayor Michael Rama’s administration had prioritized road concreting as a more sustainable infrastructure solution.
Last Tuesday, Rama held a press conference urging Rosell to respond to questions regarding the "asphalt storm," which Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia recently attributed to inherited backlogs.
Rosell emphasized that under Rama’s leadership, during which he also served as city administrator, most of the projects implemented were road concreting.
"Labaw pa sa aspalto. Road concreting gani, mas labaw pa sa aspalto," said Rosell.
He added that approximately P200 million was allocated for road asphalting, which was duly delivered and implemented. Rosell also mentioned that at one point, Rama requested an additional P100 million for asphalting projects, a budget now being implemented by Garcia.
Rosell further clarified that the procurement of materials occurred in June 2024, a month after Rama was placed under preventive suspension.
"So imposibe kaayong siya (Garcia) ana. In fact, ang ga-process ana, tanan-tanan, ang mga tawo ni Mayor Rama... sa ato pa, kung parte og aspalto, wa gyud na siya nabuhat parte’g aspalto," said Rosell.
During the interview, Rosell presented documents he claimed were records from the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) concerning asphalting projects.
The documents listed 64 barangays with corresponding project sizes, amounting to an estimated total cost of P83 million.
Rosell noted that these projects consisted of a combination of road concreting and asphalting, which he believed provided a more sustainable solution, especially for upland areas leading to the city proper.
Regarding the alleged backlogs, Rosell acknowledged that some repairs might be necessary. However, he argued that these were likely due to insufficient monitoring by certain leaders.
According to him, "There are no backlogs," adding that the piled-up requests might be the result of the incumbent administration focusing on other priorities.
"Naay nag-yaya niana, wala gyud siya nagtrabaho kay in fact among gitan-aw, wala may aspalto nga iyang nahimo gyud. Tanan kang Mayor Rama ang 2024 nga procurement," said Rosell.
As the so-called "asphalt storm" unfolds, Garcia has maintained that the backlog consists of projects that have accumulated over previous administrations, with delays attributed to "overwhelming requests."
Previously, the Cebu City Council pointed out that the "asphalt storm" coincides with the upcoming election season, raising suspicions that its timing might not be coincidental despite being proposed years ago.
For his part, Garcia claimed that no asphalting projects were implemented in the past three years under previous administrations. He further asserted that many of the roads now being asphalted had not been maintained for the past decade. If there were any delays in processing requests, Garcia attributed them to the sheer volume of requests coming from barangays. — /FPL (FREEMAN)