Utility poles still standing in middle of widened roads dismay senators

MANILA, Philippines — Senators on Tuesday expressed dismay over utility poles still standing in the middle of widened roads, saying it defeats the purpose of the road widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and even pose danger to motorists.

During a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its attached agencies, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon mentioned that some utility poles on widened roads have not yet been relocated, posing safety risks to passing motorists.

He also said that since motorists could not ply the portion of the road that has been widened due to these utility poles, it is only being used as a parking area for vehicles or as free space for vendors.

“In many areas, the DPWH would widen the roads but because of road widening the electric posts get into the middle of the widened road and the widened road becomes a parking area. And this is so because the electric cooperatives, for one reason or another and mostly lack of funds, would not move the electric posts,” he said.

“Pumunta ka ngayon mula sa Maynila hanggang sa Tagaytay (If you will travel from Manila to Tagaytay), you will see widened roads not completed with huge gaps because of electric posts, or if it is completed, you cannot pass through it because the electric posts stand in the middle of the widened road,” he added.

These photos presented by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, show a utility post on a portion of a widened road in Batangas. (Screengrab from Senate livestream)

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, said he has also raised this concern during a budget hearing of the DPWH and even showed a photo of a utility poles on a widened road in Batangas. He said this makes the road widening project “useless.”

“When I asked DPWH about this, in any road widening project, there is already an allocation for post removal, and the mechanism to do that is for DPWH to download the money to the electric cooperatives and the electric cooperatives will move the posts,” Gatchalian said.

Photo from office of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian

“The problem is the coordination because apparently DPWH does not know who are electric cooperatives, how much they should download,” he added.

For Drilon, the problem has not been attended to by concerned agencies.

Photo from office of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian

“Look at the visuals. You have spaghetti wires on top and a parking lot below at the bottom. What can we do about this? Many of these in the provinces are electric cooperative distribution posts,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Nancy Binay said these utility poles should have been relocated first before the roads were widened.

Photo from office of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian

She also advised the DPWH to take action for the relocation of the posts that will be affected in its future projects for road widening to prevent the same problem.

“Di ba po dapat in the proper order of things, dapat bago mag-road widening, ilipat muna nila yung poste? Kasi di ba isipin niyo gawa na ‘yung kalsada, i-uusod niyo ‘yung poste so may butas doon ngayon na kailangan buhusan ng semento,” said Binay.

(In the proper order of things, don’t you think you should relocate the posts first before widening the roads? The roads were already widened but you have to move the electric posts so there will be holes on the road that should now be filled with cement.)

In response, National Electrification Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said there is a joint circular between the DOE and the DPWH on the relocation of the electric posts. He assured that relocation of these poles is ongoing.

According to NEA, P4 billion is needed to remove the existing utility poles on widened roads but only P400 million has been allocated for next year. Drilon said that at this rate, it will take NEA 10 years to solve the issue.

Drilon also said he wants the agency to submit a more definite plan that could be implemented faster on the matter and warned that non-submission may defer its proposed P1.81-billion budget for 2021 when it reaches the plenary in November.

Gatchalian, for his part, also asked NEA to submit a detailed map of areas where utility poles have not been relocated, as well as information on the budget allocated for the relocation initiative.

Masongsong said they will comply with the requests of the senators.

JPV