DPWH denies anomaly in road improvement projects BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA ILOILO City – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) – Iloilo City District Engineering Office (ICDEO) stressed that all road improvement and rehabilitation projects had gone through strict bidding procedures before implementation. Appearing on the talk show Reklamo Publiko yesterday, ICDEO head Engr. Rodney Gustilo was reacting to negative observations on the road widening of General Luna Street, one of which is that their office had illegally cut century-old trees while pursuing the “beautification project” of the city government. Gustilo clarified that he had no personal intervention in the road widening project, stressing that his office merely followed the criteria set by DPWH. Gustilo said all decisions on the project were based hinged on “traffic count.” Every year, DPWH gets the average daily traffic volume of the national road sections in the city, and the road condition data. Gustilo said the two criteria are the bases of the planning survey of the DPWH central office to validate whether or not a national road is due for rehabilitation. The political leaders, he said, help push for the projects with sound project proposals. As regards the widening of General Luna Street which critics allege has ruined the beautification project of the city sans coordination with the city government, Gustilo begged to disagree, insisting that DPWH had made prior consultations with Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, Cong. Jerry Treñas and Councilor Plaridel Nava, the chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Transportation. However, Gustilo admitted the lapses of his office as far as the trees on General Luna Street were concerned. They had failed to secure a permit before uprooting the trees affected by the widening. During a technical conference with DENR last week, ICDEO agreed to suspend the road widening until it has secured a permit from the department. The road widening had been going on for the past two months. By the count of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) here, 29 trees were already pared through their base and eight of these were ready for uprooting. DPWH should first secure a permit from DENR before doing so, insisted CENRO’s Ildefonso Tuliva Jr. In a resolution, city councilors voiced out their dismay over the trees. Councilor Joshua Alim described General Luna as a “major thoroughfare of Iloilo City,” and the trees planted along the street were very much a part of the Ilonggo heritage. “Ang iban ‘di nga mga kahoy mas tigulang pa sa aton. (Some of the trees here are older than us),” he said. “Ilonggos are very sentimental. We have grown up along with those trees,” added Councilor Plaridel Nava. Gustilo apologized for his office’s shortcomings. He asked the DENR for the corresponding guidelines for future reference.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 22:02:44 +0000
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