When you see potholes, that's incompetence!

I was driving along H. Cortes St. and I didn’t know that the potholes which I’m sure the residents there have already memorized its locations have gotten so deep and huge, even trailer trucks have to slowdown. Perhaps Mandaue City officials do not recognize the truism that potholes are a major cause of traffic jams as they unnecessarily slowdown traffic. I have always said that H. Cortes St. is the parallel road to the Banilad-Talamban Road and therefore a major thoroughfare not just for Mandaue residents, but also for Cebu City residents, as well.

It’s about time we taxpayers should show our indignation to those inept… nope I didn’t say corrupt, but inept, incompetent public officials whose salaries we pay them. Whenever I see a pothole, I can tell that some public official has not been doing their job. Potholes are so visible; you don’t only see them, your car jars when your wheels hit it. But potholes just didn’t appear overnight. They began life as a strong asphalt that was mixed with too much water due to the rains … and soon the asphalt cracks which engineers dub as “alligator backs” because they really break down looking like the backs of alligators … then they peel off and begin life as a small hole and because no one cared to fix the road … it blossoms into a huge pothole.

Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III talks a lot about reforms in his mind. But in reality, we do not feel any of his reforms simply because they don’t exist or if they do, they only exist in the mind of the President. A case in point is the “wang-wang” policy that ushered his administration. Perhaps he has eradicated the wang-wang in Metro Manila because they have all but disappeared in the nation’s capital.

But last Sunday, as I was passing through V. Rama Ave. there were two funeral processions and the lead motorcycle escort was “wang wanging” along as if a funeral procession was an emergency. Now, will someone tell that motorcycle escort (nope he was not a cop, perhaps someone from the barangay) that he was violating Pres. PNoy’s order that there should be no wang-wangs, except for ambulances?

The same is true in Cebu City, especially along the road that I pass through everyday along Juana Osmeña Extension. But this is not because our DEPW is incompetent; rather they are just overwhelmed by the destruction on our roads because of the incessant rains. But yes, the two small potholes along that road that we have learned to avoid have already become huge annoying potholes. I just hope that someone in DEPW reads this so they can fix the problem.

Again for the nth time, I would like to emphasize that the Philippines should no longer be using asphalt, which by the way is an imported item, where we have to spend precious dollars to bring them to our country. How many columns have we already written in the past where we pointed out that Cebu sits on top of the best cement money can buy!

Yes, Virginia, if you didn’t know … this is why the Americans set up the Apo Cement Company at the turn of the century because they found that the cement in Cebu was one of the best in the world. Hence, they used Apo Cement to build the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Hoover Dam in Las Vegas.

Again, I’d like to point out that the best road system in Metro Cebu is along the South Road Properties (SRP), which opened to the public some eight years ago. But look at it today … you will see many potholes and gator backs all over the place. Why the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) did not cement that road escapes me. If they gave the excuse that they didn’t have the budget for cement, then they should look again at the cost of repaving that carriageway.

Whenever we ride our bikes, we are always awed at the many great road projects that they have in Luzon, especially the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the latest Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), which of course costs so much on the peso per kilometer basis. But these roadways are all cemented. Thus even the toughest rains or floods, the road doesn’t deteriorate like asphalt.

Again, let me say it here that I did a little experiment when I was CITOM Chief when I asked then Councilor Gabby Leyson to cement the road from Beverly Glen in Peace Valley. That was way back in 2004 and look at it today; the cemented road has withstood all strong rains and is still strong today. I asked this of Councilor Leyson because that road doubles as a riverbed when the rain waters cascade down towards the low areas and exits along the Lahug Creek along Escario St. But that was one lesson that we did not follow through. If only we cemented all our roads, then we would have lesser potholes and use the extra money for our other infrastructure needs.

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