EDITORIAL - Tearing up perfectly good roads

That portion of Osmeña Boulevard from the Capitol to Fuente Osmeña is being torn up and then quickly paved over. Normally, this development deserves gratitude and congratulations. It is a palpable display of government at work, of government providing basic services for the public benefit. So why is no one clapping? Why is the work being given the cold shoulder.

Maybe the silence has got to do with the fact that before the road was torn up, it was in nearly perfect condition. Osmeña Boulevard, one of the showcase thoroughfares in the city, has never degenerated into a crippling and crippled state. At its worst, there may have been the occasional roughness due to the thinning away of the smooth tar overlay. But Osmeña Boulevard has never been known to have gone the way of many city roads, that is, to be full of potholes.

That is why a lot of motorists were surprised when, beginning in the wee hours of morning last week, workers and their heavy equipment started tearing up the asphalt pavement. And in the succeeding mornings, motorists were greeted with scenes of newly-asphalted stretches where only the day before they had been desolate lanes of torn up pavement.

Maybe it was also the swiftness with which the torn up portions were paved over with fresh asphalt layers that prompted the taxpaying Cebuanos to simply shut their mouths to the sudden and unexpected development. Of course, the haste with which the job was done also made sure that the job was poorly done, meaning that if only the asphalt had not been new, the old pavement would appear to actually feel better and smoother under the wheels than the new one.

But then again, maybe the road will smoothen in due time. Maybe the Cebuanos should just be thankful that their government has seen fit to do something without having to be prodded or asked. Maybe there is a transformational motivation beneath all this seemingly gallant exercise of public service. Maybe we should move on to other things instead of nitpicking over something that is ultimately good.

Or is it? Okay, it has to be conceded that the development is good and beneficial. Still, to tear up an otherwise still nearly perfect road in order to overlay it with fresh pavement entails a lot of expenses, hard to come by cash that probably could have been channeled elsewhere to finance more immediate priorities or much more urgent needs.

Besides, there are kilometers upon kilometers of city streets with a much more crying need for government attention and intervention. The sheer number of roads that badly need repairs is simply staggering. Why these roads are not being attended to just as quickly is perplexing, especially in light of the unbidden attention being dedicated to Osmeña Boulevard.