Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon spent much of the past year cultivating the image of a no-nonsense reformer determined to clean up one of government’s most corruption-tainted agencies.
Now, EDSA is putting that reputation to the test.
Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has called for a Senate inquiry into the multibillion-peso rehabilitation of the country’s busiest highway after fresh potholes appeared on newly paved portions following days of heavy rain.
The deterioration is difficult to dismiss as ordinary wear and tear. These are newly repaired sections of a project that government itself advertised as a showcase of better engineering, stronger materials and improved construction methods.
Under Senate Resolution No. 594, Lacson wants the Senate Committee on Public Works to examine what he described as possible flaws in the planning, design, construction and management of the project.
The numbers make the questions even more urgent.
The EDSA rehabilitation was originally estimated at around P17 billion before government redesigned the project and brought the projected cost down to roughly P6 billion. Phase 1, from Roxas Boulevard to Orense Street, was awarded for P1.18 billion. Phase 2, covering Orense to Monumento, carries a P4-billion contract.
Phase 1 was even completed two months ahead of schedule.
That achievement suddenly looks considerably less impressive when portions of the pavement cannot apparently survive an extended spell of Metro Manila rain without developing potholes.
Dizon himself was furious upon seeing the damage. He later blamed concrete barriers along the EDSA Busway for obstructing drainage and contributing to the asphalt’s deterioration.
Perhaps that explanation will withstand technical scrutiny. Perhaps it won’t. That’s precisely why Lacson’s proposed investigation is necessary.
Dizon cannot demand ruthless accountability from everyone else and settle for explanations when trouble lands at his own doorstep.
He was merciless in his public criticism of those implicated in the flood-control scandal. He declared that DPWH had become a “cash cow” and denounced projects that allegedly squandered public money.
He was particularly harsh toward former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co. In January, Dizon said government had strong evidence that a P289-million Oriental Mindoro flood-control project was substandard and alleged that Co, Sunwest and DPWH personnel had colluded “to steal the money of our countrymen.” Co and his co-accused are facing cases before the Sandiganbayan; but the allegations remain subject to judicial determination.
Those were extraordinarily strong words from a Cabinet secretary.
They also establish an extraordinarily high standard by which Dizon himself must now be judged.
If substandard infrastructure is evidence of gross failure when somebody else is responsible, newly rehabilitated EDSA pavement crumbling after heavy rains cannot simply be explained away.
Dizon should welcome the Senate probe. More importantly, he should accept responsibility for whatever it uncovers.
Accountability is not measured by how loudly an official condemns the failures of his predecessors or political enemies. It is measured by what he does when the failure happens under his own watch.
Corruption, after all, is not limited to envelopes, kickbacks and stolen taxpayers’ money. Public funds are also betrayed through incompetence, poor supervision, defective planning and government projects that fail to deliver what taxpayers paid for.
Dizon promised Filipinos a better EDSA. The potholes are telling a different story.
The Senate should find out why — and determine whether the man who talked so much about accountability is prepared to practice it himself.
