DPWH readies plan to make public buildings sturdier

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways will launch a “structural resiliency program” that aims to upgrade standards in the design and construction of public schools, hospitals and other government structures to make them withstand  typhoons, earthquakes and other natural calamities.

This was disclosed on Monday by Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson at a news briefing in which he stressed the need to “make public buildings operational and functional in the event of natural disasters.”

“We’re talking of schools and hospitals, as well as police and fire stations, among others, that can withstand natural calamities,” he said.

“Aside from providing continued public service in times of disasters, these public structures may also serve as temporary evacuation facilities for calamity victims.”

Singson noted that the DPWH already has a program to retrofit public buildings.

“However, the series of natural disasters that hit the country recently call for making these infrastructures resilient to the ravages of natural calamities in the future,” he added.

The DPWH still has to specify the new program’s funding requirements, but Singson pointed out that “any increase in the disaster resiliency of any structure will call for a bigger budget allocation.”

The DPWH has deployed 20 engineering teams in Eastern Visayas to estimate the scope of work and the amount of money needed to rehabilitate government buildings and other public infrastructure destroyed or damaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” the DPWH press office announced.

It said the teams were from the department’s bureaus of construction, maintenance, quality and safety, research and standards, and design.

Meanwhile, field personnel from DPWH regional offices in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol were currently involved in road clearing operations in typhoon-affected communities in Samar while personnel from DPWH regional offices the National Capital Region, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and Caraga were doing the same kind of work in Leyte.

“More than 300 DPWH personnel with a complement of 39 dump trucks, 15 payloaders, 13 backhoes, six fuel trucks, and 170 generator sets, among other equipment, are involved in the road clearing operations,” according to DPWH information chief Elizabeth Pilorin.

An undisclosed number of private contractors belonging to the Philippine Constructors Association, Inc. have mobilized more than 60 pieces of heavy equipment to reopen roads in the region.