MANILA, Philippines?The coffee table book ?Joyride: More than Roads and Bridges? sums up the ultimate accolade to the infrastructure accomplishments of ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

For the new Aquino administration, it was a roller-coaster romp to nowhere.

?To President Arroyo alone belongs the credit for the infrastructure required by the country for economic takeoff,? then Public Works Secretary Victor Domingo wrote in the foreword of the 123-page publication chronicling what she had done from 2001 to 2009.

Domingo also claimed that for the feat, Arroyo had ?elevated the Philippines among the ranks of First World countries.?

During the book?s June 23 launch at the headquarters of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Port Area, Manila, which coincided with the agency?s 112th anniversary, Domingo gave Ms Arroyo a copy of the book. She stayed for only 10 minutes but did not give a speech.

The new DPWH head Rogelio Singson also disclosed that the ?Joyride? book project was funded by the state-run Road Board, which oversees the controversial road user?s tax. He had no idea how much the book cost.

?It?s being questioned by (the Commission on Audit) because it turned out to be an unauthorized expenditure of the Road Board.?

Elizabeth Pillorin, DPWH public information officer and one of the book?s editorial advisers, said she was not privy to the book?s budget deliberations.

Another DPWH old-timer claimed both the Presidential Management Staff and the Office of the Press Secretary were ?behind the planning and implementation of the book project.?

On Wednesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer tried but failed to reach Domingo.

?Joyride? claims the former President was ?leaving behind more than roads and bridges.?

?The Asian Development Bank has projected that the country?s economy will expand by 4.6 percent next year ? Sa totoo lang (truth is), all that is possible because (Ms Arroyo) has laid down the groundwork for economic takeoff,? the book added.

?Look at the quality?

Singson strongly disagreed with his predecessor?s assessment.

?Let?s look at the quality of the infrastructure projects and where, which roads they are referring to. Are they talking about national roads or barangay roads?? Singson told the Inquirer.

He noted that in Southeast Asia, the Philippines had ?the lowest ratio of paved roads.?

?What?s sad is that the DPWH is supposed to fix national roads and bridges. This had not been attended to. Instead the funds went to local roads and barangay roads in scattered places,? Singson said, indicating irregularities in the selection of public works projects.

17 photographs

?Joyride? shows at least 17 pictures of the former President along with those of selected DPWH projects, which Domingo also called a ?solid testament to President Arroyo?s governance.?

The book credited the Arroyo administration for the construction and improvement of 48,585 kilometers of roads nationwide.

These include Halsema Highway, Baler-Aurora-Casiguran road, Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Aurora-Dingalan port road, Marikina-Infanta road, North Luzon East Expressway, SLEx Extension, NAIA Expressway, Maharlika Highway, Bohol Circumferential Road, El Nido-Bataraza-Rio Tuba road, Zamboanga West Coast road and the New Bacolod Airport access road, among others.

Other major accomplishments of the DPWH under the Arroyo administration also included the construction of 289,944 lineal meters of bridges, 294,995 public housing units, 9,942 flood control projects and 26,586 km of farm-to-market roads.

Project selection

Singson said he would continue looking into reports of DPWH project irregularities.

?We should be able to minimize, if not totally eliminate all these leakages or corruption,? he said. ?One of the biggest sources of corruption here at DPWH is in project selection.?

Between 2001 and 2009, the DPWH spent P288.07 billion on the construction and repair of roads and bridges, P46.7 billion on flood control projects and another P73.5 billion on other infrastructure projects.