Revilla asks DPWH chief to submit total infra damage cost due to Paeng

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. asked Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan to submit a report on the total infrastructure damage caused by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae).

Revilla, chairperson of the Senate committee on public works, requested the report in a letter to Bonoan on Tuesday.

“With the recent massive devastation caused by Severe Tropical Storm ‘Paeng’, more government infrastructures, such as bridges and dikes, have collapsed and are now impassable, thus rendering more hardships to the Filipino people, especially those in the countryside.

“Since time is of the essence, please submit a report to this Committee on the total damage sustained by public infrastructures, including dikes, revetments, and other flood control structures, detailing the required funds for their immediate reconstruction with a ‘timetable’ as to when the repairs will be completed,” Revilla’s letter read.

READ: Bridge connecting Batangas and Quezon collapses

He said that the DPWH should repair damaged infrastructures and make them accessible to the public.

Revilla, citing Japan’s capability to reconstruct a cratered road in six days following an earthquake, asked Bonoan if it was also possible to repair damaged infrastructures immediately.

The senator likewise assured the DPWH that he will personally seek the Senate committee’s help on finance to get funds that will be incorporated into the agency’s 2023 national budget.

READ: Angara sees filing of Senate panel report on P5.268T 2023 nat’l budget by next week

Based on the latest data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the cost of damage to 141 infrastructures due to Paeng was pegged at P896.8 million.

READ: Death toll from Paeng rises to 121; affected individuals now over 3 million

je/abc