ILOILO CITY, Philippines—President Macapagal-Arroyo has stepped in on the controversy between Pavia town Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta and Iloilo Rep. Judy Syjuco over a P28-million road repair project.

The President has directed the Department of Public Works and Highways to repair and cement the 3.4-kilometer Pagsanga-an-Tigum-Cabugao Norte Road in Pavia instead of just restoring or asphalting the road network.

Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Raul Banias, quoting a telephone conversation with Augusto Syjuco, the director general of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the congresswoman’s husband, said the President issued the directive to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who, in turn, relayed it to DPWH and to Mr. Syjuco.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, chair of the Task Force Bangon Panay, the multi-agency body that supervises rehabilitation programs for typhoon-ravaged areas on the island, said he was also aware that the DWPH has been directed to cement the road.

Gonzalez said he had reported to the President the problem surrounding the road project.

Gravel and cement

“I told her that it would not be good that the Pavia portion would be restored as gravel road while the connecting portion of the road in Iloilo City would be cemented,” Gonzalez told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

The road, which was destroyed by floodwaters triggered by Typhoon “Frank” last June 21, connects Pavia with the neighboring town of Leganes and Jaro District of Iloilo City. Residents have appealed for decades for the road to be cemented.

Gorriceta earlier accused Representative Syjuco of “hijacking” and attempting to implement an overpriced road repair project.

He said Judy Syjuco asked the DPWH to channel the funds to the DPWH office in her district after his request for funds for the repair of the road was approved and after an initial P10.5 million was released by the DPWH.

The mayor also alleged that Augusto Syjuco [not the congresswoman as earlier reported], who was also congressman in the district before his wife took over in 2004, took no interest in the repair of the road network.

Negotiated contract

Gorriceta had also claimed that engineer George Suy, of the DPWH-Iloilo 4th Engineering District, had informed him that the project had already been awarded to a contractor through a negotiated contract.

Suy denied the allegation saying he was “misinterpreted” by Gorriceta.

The mayor had said that he requested the DPWH that the implementation of the project be done by the local government of Pavia through a Memorandum of Agreement between the LGU and DPWH.

He also offered to build a concrete road measuring 6.10 meters wide and 9 inches thick with the same budget instead of simply restoring the road to its gravel form or asphalting it as earlier requested.

He earlier said that P28 million was “too much” for restoring the gravel road because the budget was intended for at least an asphalt road.

Representative Syjuco has not responded to requests for her side on the issue. But in a letter to Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. dated Sept. 9, the congresswoman said she supports the concreting of the road project instead of the repair and rehabilitation as earlier planned.

Not town’s business

In the same letter, she asked the DPWH to submit a new program of work for a corresponding increase in the budget of the project.

But Syjuco objected to Gorriceta’s request that the project be administered by the municipality.

“Simply just like the rest of us, the town should limit its affairs to local governance and should not be in the construction business of national government projects,” she said in her letter.

Tesda chief Syjuco said Gorriceta should not claim that he was the only one who asked for funds for repair of the damage road.

“It is foolish for him to say that he was the only one who made the request. We also requested for repair of all damaged roads. But it’s not a problem if he wants to take credit for the road repair project,” he said in a telephone interview on Saturday.

He said it would be now up to the DPWH to come up with a new budget and how to implement the project.