DPWH lays off 13 Central Luzon engineers

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The cash-strapped Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Central Luzon has laid off at least 13 engineers and abandoned the rented office of its river control system personnel in Apalit town.

This, even as the regional DPWH office has embarked on the repair of infrastructure damaged by floods that hit wide areas of this province and other parts of Central Luzon by lending backhoes and other equipment to flood-affected municipalities.

Damage to infrastructure across the region was placed at P70 million.

DPWH regional director Ramon Aquino told The STAR the 13 engineers who were laid off used to be assigned to the Pampanga river control system (PRCS) office in Apalit town.

The PRCS abandoned its rented office in that town and transferred to the DPWH regional office here as part of the department’s belt-tightening measures.

Aquino admitted that some of the engineers had been with the DPWH for as long as 20 years.

"But we really do not have funds anymore for their salaries and they were not permanent employees. Most of the PRCS staffers are casual employees," he said.

Aquino denied reports that the layoff had something to do with their alleged negligence in maintaining the dikes, particularly Apalit’s Arnedo dike which collapsed.

"The Arnedo dike is just too old as it was completed in 1939," he said, noting that a relatively new dike some 300 meters away, parallel to the old dike did not give way.

He added that DPWH personnel kept watch on all the floodgates of the dikes during the recent flash floods.

Aquino said his office has received only P3.9 million for the repair of damaged infrastructure in Central Luzon.