Time to change the “Pwede Na” Pinoy standard!

It’s two months and two days since Super Typhoon “Yolanda” the biggest typhoon that ever hit the planet earth and it seems that the government has assumed that things would now go back to normal in the places that were hardest hit, like Guiuan, Samar and Tacloban City. But if we looked at the two previous major typhoons that struck Mindanao in the last two years, Typhoon “Sendong” and Typhoon “Pablo”, a good number of people are still waiting for relief to come. This is the old “normal” for us.

In the past few days, the Inquirer has been targeting the Department of Public Works & Highways (DPWH) for constructing substandard homes, that my good friend, Architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. said “I’m reminded of the saying, ‘We build monuments for the dead but we can’t even provide decent housing for the living.” Perhaps the problem lies upon the fact that the poor Filipinos are so used to living in hastily built shanties, which can be blown out by ordinary storms, so the international relief agencies decided that the aid money would be spent for the typhoon victims would be used to construct sturdy homes for those who lost them during the typhoon.

As expected, DPWH Secretary Babes Singson denied that the homes that they constructed were substandard or at least that was what his people informed him and he even said that he would resign if these reports were found to be true and as if on cue, of course, Malacañang was quick to give their support to their loyal DPWH Secretary. But in the end, it seems that the DPWH Secretary did not know that these homes were substandard from the eyes of the International Relief Agencies. Shame on Sec. Singson!

As I was writing this piece, I got an email from Palafox who said, “In the light of some news that may make it appear I’m accusing DPWH of corruption in the building of bunkhouses, I’d like to clarify that I didn’t make such accusations. I only commented on the shelters for survivors being undersized and substandard based on our international experience and standards. Sec. Babes Singson has my trust and confidence. I admire his professionalism when he called me yesterday and admitted he was not made aware of the international standards and he himself went to the disaster area to check and initiated to improve the designs and specifications based on international standards. I hope he will not resign.”

This letter from my good friend architect Palafox is clear proof that the DPWH Secretary was not aware of the international standards, which he should have followed. While I concur that Palafox did not make such an accusation specifically against the DPWH Secretary. However, this news report isn’t false at all, those homes that were constructed were undersized and substandard if you followed international standards. But for the poor Filipino who has for so many decades followed that dictum of “Pwede Na” those homes are livable. I dare say we should change this stupid attitude!

Try to secure a building permit from the Office of the Building Official and chances are, you’d fall into that quagmire called Filipino bureaucracy and in the end, those who can afford to build homes or buildings pay those corrupt people in the OBO so that they could get things to move. Mind you, it is very easy for OBO officials to find anything wrong with your construction, but when the money is passed under the table it is “pwede na!”

But if you are a potential squatter (or worse, people who build shanties and lease them to the poor) there are no international or national standards to follow and yes, local government units, and I mean not just here in Metro Cebu, but throughout the rest of the Philippines, turn a blind eye by allowing these people to build homes even along restricted areas like riverbanks or esteros where there are easements supposedly to protect the river wall. All you have to do is look at the Lahug Creek and I dare you to tell me where is the side of the creek? This is our “Pwede Na” mentality!

I dare say that it is high time for Filipinos to change this “Pwede Na” mentality. For instance, the majority of the Filipino people still ride the age-old jeepney simply because we did not follow the rest of the world in getting a more efficient means for our mass transport system. Of course, this distinction goes to Metro Manila which has now completed its Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit systems for its people, while the rest of the Philippines help pay for the luxury that the people of Manila have…we get practically nothing. For us the jeepney is “pwede na!”

I recently found my old paper on the Feasibility Study for the Bus Rapid Transit system and yet despite the support of former Rep. Tomas Osmeña to Pres. PNoy Aquino, this plan was shelved. It was an attempt to modernize Cebu City from this “Pwede Na” mentality. Alas we can’t expect this anymore, at least not in the next three years under PNoy.

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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com