EDITORIAL - Potholes along daang matuwid

For nearly four months this year, the flyover crossing Buendia Avenue along Osmeña Highway or South Superhighway in Makati City underwent repairs, with the structure being closed to traffic at certain phases of the work. The project, reportedly costing nearly P100 million, was finally completed on Aug. 28.

Just a month later, the asphalt pavement had disintegrated and the flyover turned into a moonscape, slowing down traffic. The pavement has been repaired, but starting Oct. 14, this taxpayer’s nightmare will be closed again, for yet another round of rehabilitation. Officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways said they had ordered the contractor, Tokwing Construction, to completely remove and replace the asphalt overlay.

DPWH officials should do more than that and look into the possibility of filing criminal charges for what, even to the eyes of non-civil engineers, looks like substandard work. The filing of administrative cases must also be studied against DPWH officials who might have looked the other way or been remiss in their duty of checking the quality of the four-month flyover rehabilitation.

As most Filipinos know, the Osmeña flyover is not the only part of the country’s road network that melts in the first heavy downpour. Metro Manila is a patchwork of concrete and asphalt pavement that seems to be in dire need of waterproofing. Because of the reputation of the DPWH for graft, there is a suspicion that road projects also need corruption-proofing. Endless patchwork repairs offer endless opportunities for fat commissions.

One way of corruption-proofing is by putting in place a system of accountability and transparency that will facilitate close scrutiny and verification of the specs for road repair and maintenance projects, their proposed costs, supply procurement and actual expenditures. The contractor must be properly identified, with address and contact numbers, so that if a flyover that underwent repairs for four months disintegrates in the first typhoon, the contractor can be taken to task together with certain DPWH officials if warranted.

Filipinos know that durable pavement exists in this world, and not just overseas or in their imagination. Old sections of Roxas Boulevard’s asphalt pavement have withstood typhoons and floods for decades now. Why has that kind of road quality disappeared from Philippine roads? President Aquino should look into this. After all, he rose to power on a platform of daang matuwid, not daang butas-butas.