Believe it or not

Not many of us know Leroy Robert Ripley. In fact, I just read from the internet that he was a cartoonist, entrepreneur, and an amateur anthropologist. But many of us know that he founded “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” which deals with bizarre events, items and odd facts around the world. I have also just learned that Believe It Or Not was first published in 1920 and proved popular it was later adopted into a variety of formats including radio, film, television, comic books, a chain of museums, and a book series. Ripley once featured the Church of One Tree in his home city of Santa Rosa, California. That structure was built from a single redwood tree. In any case, can we imagine that Ripley is said to have received more mail than the president of the United States?

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, let me point out that there is an ongoing construction of a four-lane highway(?) from Barangay Talamban passing thru Barangay Bacayan and ending in Barangay Pit-os. It is planned to start beside the Talamban Sports Complex and end near the Pit-os Barangay Hall. Believe it or not, this is one of the longest projects I have ever seen in our city if not the entire country. Longest in terms of implementation. I am horrified to think that this is a 16-year-old project. 16 years! It was in the year 2010 when the city government appropriated ?156 million for the much-needed road widening.

Believe it or not, when the project was approved, there were immediate visible sights of implementation like painting with red-colored X marks the houses and other structures to be affected. I thought that the contractor was fast and probably desired to complete the project. In fact, some houses were torn down to give way to the project. I remember the home of the parents-in-law of my friend Arnold Opone was among those that were early demolished. I recall it because the just compensation issue as formulated in specific provision of the Constitution might not have been satisfactorily addressed. There were also signs placed along the way to indicate how wide would the road become. By the way, I have the contractor’s name.

Believe it or not, shortly after the signs of construction appeared, they also began to vanish rather mysteriously. The withdrawal of work gangs though appeared to be deliberately gradual. One batch at a time. I noticed such work deceleration because I would drive thru this Talamban-Pit-os stretch in my weekly trip to my small mountain farm. Believe it or not, the construction work eventually completely stopped. The workers totally disappeared. Just like that! The project became a ghost. There were no public announcements explaining why the project was abandoned. No government official came up to say what happened. I had to write in several of my columns expressing the kind of disappointment people felt. My write-ups were printed in regular intervals in the successions of past city administrations hoping that either the project be completed or concerned government officials would tell the public the real score. Still, no work resumed nor was there word from city administrators.

Believe it or not, in the State of the Nation Address given by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., last year, he bawled against those responsible for the flood-control project fiasco. “Mahiya naman kayo!” That presidential ire was followed by seemingly-serious investigations. Untouchable names were exposed. When the first cases were eventually filed before the Sandiganbayan against a former senator and some DPWH officials and contractors, the president looked bent on incarcerating the ghost project offenders. The Talamban-Pit-os road project that seemed like a ghost for about 16 years, suddenly resurrected. Out of nowhere, work gangs and heavy equipment began working. If Leroy Robert Ripley were here with us, he would say that, believe it or not, had not an ex-lawmaker and former public works officials been jailed, that work would remain a ghost.