Today’s column title can apply to the crumbling leadership and integrity of the Senate, it could apply to the many commercial buildings in Bogo, Cebu that crumbled or crashed during the recent earthquake or the Piggatan bridge in the town of Alcala, Cagayan.
Built to break could be “by design,” poor choices or simply by mismanagement. Sadly, it is Filipinos who suffer the consequences – directly or indirectly – with lives, lost wealth or progress.
The Senate has gone through three Senate presidents – Zubiri, Escudero and now Sotto. The new Senate Blue Ribbon committee is now destined to have a rotation from Marcoleta to Lacson to I don’t know who. In contrast their multi-billion building remains unfinished.
What nobody is talking about is where did the disruption in the Senate begin. Or who is the “Disruptor?” Listening to the “elected” and “appointed,” it is apparent that President Bongbong Marcos greatly influenced the changes, based on what Sen. Sotto said regarding a conversation with PBBM.
While Malacañang will disavow this to hell, “the testimony of many” (senators) tells us otherwise. In truth, there is no real separation of powers in the Philippines. It is all about the political majority and who is president.
As far as the ruling party or PBBM is concerned, there are only two major political concerns: the impeachment of Sara Duterte and protecting President Marcos Jr. from the stain of theft and shame now spreading like a virus over government.
Those agendas, however, have become so intertwined that the overhaul of the Senate leadership has turned into a political minefield. You can’t touch one raw nerve without triggering the other. Any wrong move or negative perception by the public can become a political career ender.
And so, we are where we are, you have a thinly split Senate where political colors and alliances are blurred and even questionable, where the once congenial body has turned into a daily dog fight with utter loss of respect and honor.
Meanwhile, here are two important lessons for PBBM and the senators: “He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.” (Proverbs 11:29)
In the context of “casting out undesirables:” “Now. when the pharisees heard it, they said, ‘this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.’”
But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”
* * *
There was a time when a hollow block was proudly “Jackbilt,” meaning the company placed its reputation behind hollow blocks that surpassed industry standards for strength and load bearing walls.
But nowadays, any enterprising fellow can put up a backyard hollow block making plant with no permit, no safety standards, not even government rules on the sand-to-concrete ratio or how many days to sun dry homemade hollow blocks.
Having “built” two resorts and two homes, I myself have had issues with adulterated imported cement, hollow blocks that crack and crumble because of low cement content with brown sand or muddy river sand.
Now we have steel bars that may or may not pass Bureau of Standards tests, and we can add to that substandard steel bars made from induction furnaces banned but imported from China.
After the destructive earthquake that hit Bogo, Cebu, I got to watch videos of government buildings, commercial establishments, as well as many homes that crumbled during the magnitude 6.9 earthquake.
While a magnitude 6.9 earthquake is highly destructive, I could not ignore the fact that many of the structures I saw were “all flesh and no bones” – or showed inadequate steel reinforcement.
The front columns of a government office revealed that the palitada or plaster was two times thicker that the concrete post it was covering, obviously to make the column “big.”
I thought that the more modern and commercial establishments would be better off but were not. I assume that builders cut corners in terms of amount of steel bars used or the quality of those round bars.
Earthquakes are one thing, but quality and safety standards are within human control. When the local construction and cement industry complained about adulterated imported cement, it took government a while before clamping down.
The same problem happened to backyard-made hollow blocks and an effort was made among local governments to clamp down on these. Unfortunately, it was ningas cogon or a short-lived blaze that died.
Last year and this year, the media called out the problems regarding imported steel bars and conduction furnaces that do not eliminate impurities, resulting in low-grade round bars that easily snap or break where the impurities are.
The DTI tries to do its best but being undermanned and underfunded, they are barely able to scratch the surface or cover all the regions in the Philippines. Congress needs to enact stricter laws regarding imported steel and totally ban the use and importation of induction furnaces.
Lastly, we also need to be stricter on the management side so that major bridges don’t crumble one after another like the Cabangan bridge in Isabela and the Piggatan bridge in Alcala, Cagayan province. Is it poor construction or poor management against overloading?
* * *
Email: utalk2ctalk@gmail.com