Lacson chides DPWH over Benguet road projects

For a moment, Senator Panfilo Lacson lost his cool as he scrutinized on Monday the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Lacson noted that aside from the right-of-way issues, his team discovered a new problem on sloping protection in the road projects under the BLISST (Baguio, La Trinidad , Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay) area in Benguet province.

“Kung hindi muna ginawa yung slope protection, hindi in-address, ginawa kaagad yung kalsada, anong mangyayari sa kalsada? Magagamit ba natin yan?” he asked during the hearing of the Senate committee on finance.

“Slope protection comes first. Part ng feasibility study ‘yan, part ng planning ‘yan,” the senator pointed out.

The DPWH admitted that the slope protection was not considered in the area but promised to include it in next year’s budget.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar also assured senators that any damage in the construction of the roads would be assumed by contractors.

“Pero Secretary, Madam chair, kung hindi magagamit ang kalsada, kasi nga natabunan, tax payers money ‘yan. Hindi ba tayo nanghihinayang sa pera ng bayan? Pera nating lahat yan ah?” a visibly irked Lacson asked.

Villar then apologized if the delay of the project has become a burden to taxpayers.

Before this, senators joked about the presence in the hearing of Sen. Cynthia Villar, the mother of the DPWH chief.

“We’d like to acknowledge the presence of Sen .Villar, I believe to provide difficult interpellations, questions for the Secretary,” Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the committee, said in jest.

“Madam chair, mas takot ako kay Sen. Villar kaysa yung anak,” Lacson said.

“She (Villar) just told me, she just whispered to me not in a microphone that the DPWH will not be able to answer her questions,” Legarda answered. /cbb