Three overpriced bridges

Do you know how many classrooms can be built with a budget of P54 million?

The amount can fund the construction of more than 60 classrooms if we use the estimate of non-government organizations of roughly P860,000 per classroom.

Imagine how many more students our public schools can accommodate if we build those 60 additional classrooms.

But instead, this P54 million is the cost of retrofitting three short bridges in Bulacan, which really have no visible signs of damage or need for retrofitting.

I wrote about this last week in my column titled, “Bridges to corruption,” published on Oct. 22.

As I said, each bridge is approximately 30 meters long: one at the Kilometer 41 San Jose-Plaridel intersection (Bridge 1), another in Cambaog, Bustos (Bridge 2) and the third in Malamig, Bustos (Bridge 3).

All the bridges are on the northbound route from the Balagtas Exit of the North Luzon Expressway.

The first is Bridge 1 after the Jose-Plaridel intersection. The second is Bridge 2 right after the first bridge while the third is about four kilometers from the first bridge.

According to the project details, the scope of work involves retrofitting and strengthening at a cost of P18.5 million each for two bridges, while the third will cost P16.8 million for a total project cost of P53.8 million.

Based on the timetable, work started in August and completion is scheduled for December.

The implementing office is DPWH Regional Office III.

Several visits showed little work progressing, which is odd for a project scheduled for completion by December.

As I said, the only “retrofitting” happening is grinding down the surface in worm-like patterns and applying epoxy putty.

The bridges are passable and show no visible signs of an urgent need for an upgrade or modification.

It’s alarming and sad, really that despite the crippling impact of the flood-control scandal on the economy, our institutions continue to overprice infrastructure projects.

DPWH executives and employees, LGU officials and lawmakers who are all in cahoots are too callous to moderate their greed, despite the economic fallout of the flood-control mess.

I wonder if DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon, the so-called golden boy that he is, is even capable of ridding the agency of the mess he inherited and coming up with infrastructure projects that are no longer overpriced.

Even the cost of classrooms, using the DPWH’s estimate, is overpriced at P3.5 million each, according to EDCOM, whereas a non-government organization can actually build one for P860,000.

Sacred rage

In Europe, protests have spread amid challenging times.

There is that rage among the young population, fed up with a system that has led to poor school infrastructure, a housing crisis and the rising cost of living.

Here at home, the kind of audacious corruption devouring the moral fiber of our society and eating into public institutions, is a ticking time bomb. It may be just a matter of time before protests erupt.

Someday soon, just like in Les Misérables our people may yet sing again, loud and mighty, the song of angry men – the music of the people, who will not be slaves again!

A national task force for a jet full of drugs

What has become a global embarrassment for the Philippines should not be left unpunished.

I’m referring to the discovery by Laotian authorities of a jet full of drugs. Authorities intercepted the private jet, believed to be headed for Manila, in early October.

The jet was loaded with 23 pieces of luggage containing 521 kilograms of shabu, estimated to be worth P3.5 billion.

We must keep in mind that the drug scourge in the Philippines will remain one of our country’s worst ills if authorities fail to pursue the syndicates bringing these illegal drugs into the country, and the Filipinos working with them.

Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos called for the establishment of a National Anti-Illegal Drug Task Force.

Santos, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said there is a need for a whole-of-nation approach to the fight against drugs.

He called for stronger inter-agency coordination, intelligence-sharing and closer monitoring of international drug trafficking networks that may exploit private aircraft and chartered flights to smuggle illegal narcotics into the Philippines.

In a letter to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Santos endorsed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s request for a proposed executive order that would establish the national task force.

He believes this would help strengthen the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

“The committee believes that the DILG’s technical inputs will be crucial in ensuring that the proposed Task Force has a clear mandate, effective operational structure, well-defined agency responsibilities and workable mechanisms for coordination and accountability,” Santos said.

Establishing a dedicated task force, he said, would help consolidate the capabilities of law enforcement agencies, intelligence units and other government offices to really disrupt drug operations in the country.

Narco-state

The drug problem in the Philippines is so serious that it’s not an exaggeration to say we may be just a few steps away from actually descending into a narco state.

The challenge is for the Marcos administration to win the war on drugs. Perhaps, this is one way President Marcos can also vindicate himself against the alleged drug use issue perennially raised against him.

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