The limits of Daang Matuwid

As a slogan, a rallying cry or propaganda line, Daang Matuwid is just about to reach its expiry date. The novelty of our country having an honest President who wants the bureaucracy to adopt his honest ways will start wearing out soon.

With P-Noy embarking on the second half of his term by the end of this month, people will expect him to move up to the next level. Honesty is great but honesty and performance are even better.

Foreign analysts and stock market investors will also start looking at new stars in the horizon if it becomes apparent that P-Noy is a one trick pony show. We may just disappear from the radar screens of investors unless we can go beyond the Daang Matuwid story line.

What exactly will people be looking for? Infrastructure is one. A vastly improved bureaucracy, in terms of policies and efficiency, is another. A judiciary whose decisions are not up for grabs to the highest bidder should also greatly help.

But infrastructure — train commuter systems, modern airports, fast expressways, bridges, ports and power plants and distribution systems — is on top of everyone’s list. Unfortunately, this is an area P-Noy’s boys are so grossly unprepared to deliver.

Delivering brick and mortar infrastructure is how Presidents are remembered by the people. I am often confronted by Marcos loyalists who say that horrible as we may think of the late dictator, he was able to deliver fairly good highways (at least in Ilocos) and the San Juanico bridge (no matter that its cost cannot be justified by the traffic using it). He also delivered LRT1.

Whatever we may say of Imelda and her thousands of pairs of shoes, people remember her for the Cultural Center, Heart Center, Kidney Center, Lung Center and other such facilities we still use extensively today.

I get the impression that people are ready to discount a bit of corruption so long as it isn’t scandalous like the ZTE deal. They want honesty but they also want their bridges and roads, somewhat overpriced as these might be, because they need these infra facilities.

Of course we appreciate the effort of P-Noy and his boys to try to deliver infrastructure at their real cost. But I am afraid that the process to make these projects corruption proof (if that is even achievable) is taking too long.

With just three years left in P-Noy’s term, I can’t think of a major project that can be completed. The significant projects require longer than three years construction lead time.

Due to space limitation, let us just take the NAIA 1 upgrade as an example of why P-Noy has serious problems bringing his Daang Matuwid beyond the promise.

A Nov. 15, 2011 press release from DOTC as carried by the Official Gazette (www.gov.ph) says this: “Secretary of Transportation and Communications Mar Roxas today said the President has given the green light for DOTC-MIAA’s P1.1 billion NAIA Terminal 1 rehabilitation plan to undertake structural and aesthetical improvements of the country’s current gateway.”

The same report says the plan will cost P1.1 billion mainly for structural retrofitting of NAIA 1. It also said “approximately P500 million is provisionally set aside for aesthetics and interior design of the facility. It will entail replacing the well-worn linoleum floorings, the ceiling and walls and partitions. Part of this is also to replace the old immigration counters and adding up to 50 percent more such counters to existing counters.”

 â€œAnother P300 million of the total budget is set aside for the construction of rapid exit taxiway (RET) to relieve runway congestion and minimize delays or waiting time for flights… DOTC is also spending P20 million for the repair and rehabilitation of all the 72 toilet facilities in T1, including fixing the lavatories, water closets, urinals, and amenities.”

That was November 2011. A Rappler story dated Feb 6, 2012 quotes Sec. Roxas with an update on the project:

“The P1.16 billion-worth structural and beautification works on Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 or NAIA-1 will take 18 months to complete, or up to mid-2013, according to Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas.

“’There will be a partial completion by December and work will continue until middle of next year,’ Roxas said in a press briefing on Monday, Feb.6.”

We haven’t heard much about the project getting anywhere so I asked DOTC Sec. Jun Abaya last week about the status of the project in a text message. Here is his reply: “the performance based design plans have been turned over to Ove Arup for their review. Locsin architectural firm has agreed to provide the architectural services. We are about to commence the procurement of the contractor.”

I got confused because I thought they had awarded the project and they are on the finishing touches by now. After all, Mar Roxas promised completion of the project by mid-2013 which is just about now.

I texted back to Sec. Jun: “so nothing has actually happened yet by way of physical improvement. How long will bidding or procurement process take? How long will actual work take?”

Sec. Jun replied: “work will take 18 months. We will check the procurement period.”

Good Grief… if we go by Mar Roxas’s statements, the 18 months should be over. Now Sec. Jun is saying it has not even started.

As to Sec Jun’s claim that “Locsin has agreed to provide the services” – that means the overall concept for renovation works will be done by Locsin. Was the contract with Locsin negotiated? How much?

One thing is clear… there is no progress; and they can’t even move to actual construction, pending review of plans. They also still have to award a contract to construct.

The DOTC press release last Monday said Arup Philippines has been awarded through negotiated procurement, a $37,000 or P1.51 million contract for the review of the performance-based design for the retrofitting works at the NAIA Terminal 1. Actually the amount is P1.5 million, not billion as published by news media.

So, what was awarded was another consultancy contract to review a study… a restudy of the study… and we are not yet talking of the actual work of retrofitting the structure. DOTC wants Arup to certify if the design and rehabilitation plan is compliant with the Philippine Standard. I guess the extra precaution is also good but couldn’t they have managed the time line for the project’s execution better?

Another knowledgeable source had this comment: “Contract was awarded through ‘negotiated procurement’, why? They are circumventing the requirements for public bidding in my opinion. Who prepared the design Arup will review?”

The bottom line is, nothing has happened since Mar Roxas announced the rehab project. Also, the deadline commitments announced by Mar Roxas for the completion of the project (mid 2013) are worthless promises of a politician.

I suspect the same is happening in NAIA 3. Six months have come and gone this year and Sec Jun Abaya is still trying to get Takenaka to agree to complete the job. What if Takenaka refuses to have anything more to do with NAIA 3? Does Abaya even have a Plan “B”?

Last time I heard Abaya talk about it on a TV interview, he was talking of a completion date of December 2013 or six months away with a likelihood of spillover to next year. I recall Abaya also saying they need a year to bring T3 up to standard.

I texted Abaya again and on Takenaka, he said they “will have a final word with them this month.” I hope that means they will act by then rather than wait forever for Takenaka to agree. And he does have a Plan “B”: “we will bid out the 20 systems, likewise bid out the integrator contract. 3-4 months to procure. 8 months to implement.”

There you go… it will take more than a year before T3 becomes civilized enough to be used by the international carriers. In the meantime, I hope they fix the air conditioning system.

The decrepit condition of NAIA 1, on the other hand, is not a question of money. Strangely, NAIA management is remitting more “profits” to the National Treasurer (P1.547 billion) than Pagcor (P1.4 billion) … unbelievable but true. It sucks that they had the money to make life pleasant for NAIA users but its management was just too incompetent to know how to do that.

P-Noy has serious problems just with NAIA T1 and T3. We are not talking yet of LRT1 extension, LRT2 extension and MRT modernization. Has P-Noy given up on DOTC projects? It sure looks that way, unfortunately.

Pain

Romana Borromeo sent this one.

Why did the Buddhist monk refuse Novocain during a root canal?

Because he believes in transcend dental medication.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco