BORONGAN CITY – People of Eastern Samar are no strangers to potholes.

Pockmarked roads and gaping craters are salient features to daily commuters and are slowly becoming more predictable than the typhoons that frequent the province. This year, however, has been particularly hard on the owners of public utility vehicles and motorists alike.

Bus operator Mario Roncales, 54, says that besides the discomfort, the bad road conditions translate to higher car-repair bills. “The bone-rattling potholes can sometimes toss light passengers up the car roof and can easily damage the car’s suspensions and alignment,” he says.

He says half of his P1,500 daily net income is allocated to the vehicles’ tires that don’t last two months because of the wear-and-tear.

Roncales, who comes from the northern coastal town of San Policarpo, 70 kilometers from Borongan, is a former fisherman who tried his luck in the transport business almost 20 years ago. He was able to buy three jeepneys in the early 90s and later decided to run mini buses instead.

“I sold my jeepneys and bought two small buses thinking that I would be able to save more on repairs,” Roncales says. “But the bigger vehicles I got, the bigger the expense on repairs due to the bad roads.”

Roncales says he is contemplating on going back to fishing if the roads are not fixed soon.

Dry-goods supplier Nestor Solayao, 50, shares the same ordeal. “I used to cover all municipalities thrice a week but now, I could only go to the nearby towns once a week because it's so backbreaking to drive along potholes and my earnings just go to car repairs,” he says.

‘Beautiful, save for the road’

Fr. Roneil Canillas, parish priest of the northernmost town of Arteche, 100 km from Borongan, uses his Honda XLR motorcycle more than his Delica van for the same reason. “The unpaved national road in Arteche is at its best, bad; at its worse, impassable. So a motorcycle is more practical,” he says.

Travel time to Borongan from Arteche is five hours by bus but only more than three hours by motorcycle, Canillas says.

Visitors who come to Eastern Samar never fail to comment about the road conditions.

While distributing medicines to the municipalities affected by the recent flooding, Philippine Business for Social Progress [PBSP] director for operations Leo Hilado says the bad roads may qualify for the Guinness Book of World records.

“Government officials seem to have forgotten the Taft to Borongan road. I used to make it in 45 minutes but now, it takes me two hours,” he says.

During a recent visit, Senate President Manny Villar quipped: “Eastern Samar is beautiful, save for the roads.”

While the rising chorus of displeasure over the potholes and craters of Eastern Samar highways cannot be denied, some Estehanons try to make the issue lighter by poking fun at their predicament:

“Welcome to the off-road competition in Eastern Samar. Place of competition: Eastern Samar highways,” a text message once circulated.

“Eastern Samar is home to the safest drivers in the country because drivers could not drive fast in the dilapidated highways,” San Policarpo parish priest Fr. Dan Ganas adds.

In a party held at the provincial district office of the Department of Public Works and Highways last week, Eastern Samar Rep. Teodulo Coquilla thanked the staff in jest for not repairing the highways. “Had you done your job, I would have stayed in my hometown sitting idly,” he said.

DPWH priorities

The constituents are not laughing about the issue though. For months on end, local websites have been flooded with complaints about the roads that remain in various states of disrepair.

On many occasions, Coquilla said the rehabilitation of the roads was his priority. In an interview with the Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, he says that the people of Eastern Samar need not fret anymore because at least P600 million had already been allocated to the province.

Asphalt overlay has started in Taft junction, which separates Eastern Samar from Western Samar. Further repairs would follow suit once the bidding for another P111-million road project is completed this month, Coquilla says.

“People should understand that I am new to this office and I happened to be in the minority party before. It is hard to get allocations right away especially so that I have been facing many lawsuits, like my citizenship, from my detractors,” he says. “Everybody knows that our roads have been abandoned, neglected, and forgotten for so long and we need to get our act together in this regard.”

Recently, some media people in the region harped on the installed directional road signs and guardrail posts at the Eastern Samar highways amounting to P60 million.

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone says the priority should be the repair of the national roads. “Many people have expressed their dismay because the budget could have created at least some kilometers of decent highways.”

Evardone says he feels the longing of the constituents to travel in comfort but he can only do as much since his jurisdiction is limited only to provincial roads.

Former district engineer Pacita Gavan says the funds used for the directional road signs and guardrail posts come from a Saro (Special Allotment Release Order) and not from the General Appropriations Act (GAA), which is the usual budget from the national office.

“Much as we wanted to realign the funds we could not make it because the specification was for road signage alone,” she says.

Gavan says the district office need not accept the project but it would have been offered to other districts. She says the road signs and guardrails will benefit motorists too once the highways are fixed.

Gavan, who is now assigned to the regional district office, says that some P685 million worth of road network funds for Eastern Samar are scheduled for bidding this year. She, however, admits that some technical problems delayed the bidding and release order.

Eastern Samar has originally a 180-km road network that needs new asphalt overlay. Before last year’s elections, 28 km have been paved while 152 km remain in bad shape. At P10 million per kilometer, the P685-million allocation will surely fall short of the target. But if implemented, it may give a flicker of hope to Mario Roncales and other Estehanons.