DPWH left SRP tunnel "unfinished"

CEBU, Philippines -  For over a year since it was opened to public traffic, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) left many unfinished work at the South Road Properties (SRP) subway where one was killed in a six-vehicle pileup on Tuesday.

The City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) wants to take over the maintenance and operations of the SRP subway so they can implement measures to regulate its use.

That, as Cebu 6th District Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing filed a bill in Congress seeking to increase the penalty of reckless imprudence.

Citom board chairman Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem told The FREEMAN that he is disappointed with the DPWH for leaving the P1.2-billion subway unfinished.

According to him, the subway’s interior portion should have been fully painted with necessary reflective paints and installed with the required signages to prevent accidents.

Jakosalem also said DPWH lacks security measures not only at the SRP subway but also in their other projects like the Mambaling flyover. He said that if the department will leave these simple security measures unattended, incidents such as what happened in the SRP subway will surely be repeated.   

“Kasabot man pud ta nila baka kuwang og pondo, we can’t really blame them, but they should be more concerned with safety,” he said. 

Following Tuesday’s incident, the SRP subway was closed to the public because of oil spilled into the road.

In an ocular visit yesterday morning, Jakosalem discovered that the subway was unfit for traffic due to some oil residue that needed to be cleaned with soap.

Citom asked for help from the Bureau of Fire Protection so they could use a fire truck in cleaning up. But their operation was delayed because of a huge fire in Barangay Carreta yesterday morning where all fire trucks were sent. The SRP subway was opened to public traffic at 4:30 p.m.

The construction of the Cebu Subway, which is also known as the 3B-2 project, started last June 28, 2006 and was inaugurated June 30, 2010.

Citom Executive Director and lawyer Rafael Christopher L. Yap said that in all accidents that occurred inside the tunnel, the city always had to take the blame but things would have been different if they have full control of the subway.

“Accidents occur inside the tunnel almost every week. In all these, the city has to take the flak,” Yap said.

Yap said it was earlier discussed in the Citom board to limit the use of the subway to light vehicles only, while letting large vehicles take the other route going to and from the SRP.

But the Department of Public Works and Highways made a statement that the subway must be opened to all types of vehicles 24 hours a day.

He added that it has been observed that the tunnel is not well-lit. During last Tuesday’s accident that killed one, Yap said the rescue team also complained that the fans, supposedly for ventilation, were not turned on.

He said what they do is put more signs to remind the motorists to slow down to avoid accidents. As much as possible, Citom does not want to put obstructions.

Currently, the speed limit at the tunnel is 60 kph.

The subway was implemented by the DPWH, therefore, it is a national road.

DPWH-7 District Engineer Nicomedes Leonor said that the subway is still under the custody of the contractor, Kajima Corporation. Leonor said that the one-year warranty period ends on October yet. After which, Kajima will turn over the project to the DPWH.

Leonor said that a national government-implemented infrastructure project is usually not turned over to the LGU.

“It has never happened before,” Leonor said.

But if the city government wants to implement measures to regulate the use of the SRP subway, Leonor said the city may try to coordinate with the main office. 

In Congress, Quisumbing filed a bill to increase the penalty of reckless imprudence, or House Bill 5063 entitled “An act aggravating the crime of reckless imprudence committed by a person.”

 The bill seeks to increase the penalty for the crime of reckless imprudence to deter violators and caution vehicle operators because of the increasing number of vehicular accidents that resulted in high percentage of deaths and injuries.

“The spate of recent vehicular accidents and the resulting percentage of deaths and injuries is indeed disturbing, if not frightening and should awaken one’s sense of responsibility and concern,” Quisumbing stated. — (FREEMAN)