Cebu got P23 billion for road maintenance!

I finally met Sen. Grace Poe who was the guest of MyTV Talkshow host Mike Lopez for his maiden show “Open Mike” which shows tomorrow, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. on MyTV’s channel 30 over SkyCable in Metro Cebu. I found Sen. Grace to be a very receptive person, devoid of airs, which is a very uncanny trait for a Senator of her stature. After the taping, we had lunch in the residence of Dame Mariquita Yeung and Rep. Ben-Hur Salimbangon and shared with her many of our ideas and she admitted that we Cebuanos do think so much differently from the folks in Metro Manila.

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Last Monday, Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III was in Cebu to look into what the Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH) said were infrastructure projects worth P23 billion. He had a grand time, chastising his critics, like Vice-Pres. Jejomar Binay (he was in Cebu a day earlier) and announced that Cebu wasn’t given any infrastructure development in the five years under the Aquino regime. This was also the statement of former Cebu Governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña, including this writer. 

Well, PNoy together with DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson conducted a “windshield inspection” of two major projects in Cebu at the Mactan Circumferential Road, which cost P643.73 million (people going to Mactan are still wondering why traffic is still bad in this road if the DPWH supposedly widened it), the concreting of Sen. Sergio Osmeña Blvd for P290-million and the P386-million rehabilitation of roads in Northern Cebu. First of all what is this “windshield inspection?” Is it what lazy government officials under this regime now practice? They just pass by the projects of the DPWH without getting out of the vehicle for any thorough examination?

Just to set the record straight, on Sept. 23, 2013, I wrote this piece in my column in The Freeman… “In the August 13, 2013 Project List for 2014 presentation by DPWH to the MCDCB Full Board, then widening of H. Cortes wasn’t included. Sadly, none of the 36 projects recommended by the MCDCB despite its approval by the Execom and the RDC Execom was approved by the DPWH.” This is proof that Cebuanos were not getting the new infrastructure that Cebuanos needed and wanted. DPWH only gave us road maintenance!

Here’s more proof, “The 18 widening projects recommended by DPWH Region 7 was reduced to five, including that of the BanTal Road. The road opening from V. Rama to Gorordo, Lahug also recommended by DPWH-7 and RDC-IDC in its last meeting was not approved. In replacement for the disapproved projects, more than 40 asphalt overlay projects have been approved presumably in preparation for the APEC Summit in 2015.” Asphalt overlay? So again let me point this out clearly that what Cebu got from DPWH was nothing but rehabilitation or the maintenance of our roads. Indeed, as far as new infra projects are concerned… Cebu still got a big fat zero!

Worse, DPWH Sec. Singson’s boast of P23 billion for Cebu, except for the road going to Northern Cebu were roads that were very well-paved and didn’t need rehabilitation, yet they broke those nice roads! The Philippine government owes this to the taxpayers of Cebu who paid for the Road User’s Tax and it is the job of DPWH to maintain our roads.

So let me say it very clearly… the DPWH projects supposedly under this P23 billion has not helped reduce the traffic congestion in Mandaue City because DPWH failed to look into the need to fix this traffic congestion. In fact the DPWH office in Mandaue is just a few meters away from one of the most clogged areas in Mandaue City. Today we still don’t have our third bridge to connect the Cebu mainland to Mactan Island when we needed this 10 years ago. So again, Cebu still got a bum deal from the Aquino regime!

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The article we wrote about the Department of Tourism (DoT) entering the Hotel Rating Program (HRP) got a lot of comments from many tourism industry leaders. More so that not everyone knew about this program under the DOT and worse… because they got a P320 million grant from Canada, a country that doesn’t rate its own hotel industry.

Indeed, in today’s times… it is the customer that is the king! You may build a nice hotel and get a 5-Star status from the rating bureaucrats of DOT. But when Expedia, Agoda or TripAdvisor gives you a 3-Star, that’s truly your hotel’s star rating because they get this information from those who stayed in your hotel. Now regarding the DOT’s “subjective judgments” are concerned. You cannot simply a hotel’s food as excellent, good, fair or bad because this really depends upon the taste of the official eating in your restaurant. So let’s exhort the Philippine Hotel & Restaurant Industry to demand that DOT get out of the hotel ratings program because others can do it better and without the taint of corruption.

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