PGMA orders concreting of controversial Pavia road
President Macapagal Arroyo has stepped in on the controversy between Pavia town Mayor Arcadio Gorriceta and Iloilo Rep. Judy Syjuco surrounding a P28-million road repair project.
The President has directed government agencies to repair and cement the 3.4-km Pagsanga-an-Tigum-Cabugao Norte road in Pavia instead of restoring or asphalting the road network.
Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Raul Banias, quoting a telephone conversation with Secretary Augusto Syjuco, the congresswoman's husband, said the President issued the directive to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and was relayed to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
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 had reported to the President the problem surrounding the road project.
"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 said in a telephone interview.
The road, which was severely damaged by floodwaters triggered by typhoon "Frank" last June 21, connects Pavia with the neighboring town of Leganes, Iloilo towns and Jaro District of Iloilo City. Residents along the road have appealed for decades for the road to be cemented.
Gorriceta had earlier accused Rep. Syjuco of "high-jacking" and attempting to implement an overprice road repair project.
He said she 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 Secretary 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.
Gorriceta had also claimed that Engineer George Suy of the 4th Engineering District had informed him that the project had already been awarded to a contractor through a negotiated contract.
Suy has denied the allegation saying he was "misinterpreted" by Gorriceta.
The mayor had said that he requested the DPWH that the implementation of the project will be done by the local government of Pavia through a MOA between the LGU and DPWH.
He also offered to construct a concrete road measuring 6.10 meters wide and 9 inches thick instead of repair and asphalting as earlier requested with the same budget. He earlier said said P28 million is "too much" for restoring the gravel road because the budget was intended for at least an asphalt road.
Representative Sjyuco has not responded to requests for her side on the issue. But in a letter to DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. dated September 9, the congresswoman said she supports the concreting of the road project instead of the repair and rehabilitation as earlier planned.
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 will 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 public projects," she said in her letter.
Secretary 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.
Secretary Syjuco said it would be now up to the DPWH to come up with a new budget and how to implement the project.
Gorriceta said with the President's directive, it is not important who will implement the project as long as a cemented road will be constructed.