AFTER drawing flak over potholes spotted along EDSA two months after the completion of its supposed rehabilitation, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon sacked an agency official for failure to promptly respond to calamities, as heavy rains battered Metro Manila and parts of Luzon.
In a memorandum dated August 29, Dizon ordered Engineer Loreto Balena Jr. relieved as maintenance division chief of the Las Piñas-Muntinlupa District Engineering Office.
Balena, who was relieved for “unsatisfactory performance, lack of urgency, and delayed response to calamities,” was directed to complete an inventory of his office’s properties, finish and sign pending documents and deliverables, and turn over official records and other papers.
For the past couple of weeks, Metro Manila and adjoining provinces have been submerged under water in view of the weather disturbances. As of the last count, the Office of the Civil Defense logged 32 casualties arising from drowning, electrocution and landslides.
BIDDING MORATORIUM
Meanwhile, Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito asked Dizon to stop farming out flood control project contracts, even as he hinted at the urgent need to complete unfinished flood control projects before starting new ones.
“For practical reasons, we need to close the gaps so that mitigating or solving flood control would be effective,” Ejercito, chair of the Senate finance committee, was quoted in a radio interview.
According to the majority senator, incomplete infrastructure could worsen the country’s vulnerability to flooding.
“Close the gaps, complete the unfinished flood control projects. No new projects. Finish what needs to be finished,” he added.
Previously, multi-sectoral groups urged the Senate to resume congressional probe of the government’s multibillion-peso flood control program and concerns over unfinished or poorly implemented projects.
UNIFIED MASTERPLAN
Ejercito also urged the 20th Congress to ratify the proposed Masterplan for Infrastructure National Development primarily designed to come up with long-term infrastructure planning.
Under the proposed measure, concerns over flood control, transportation, housing, water, energy, utilities and other major infrastructure would be integrated under a singular masterplan
Ejercito further asked the government to prioritize the country’s 10 most flood-prone areas and use a 30- to 50-year framework to guide major infrastructure investments.
The legislator said long-term planning is extremely crucial in strengthening the so-called accountability by giving projects clear objectives, timelines and costs and help prevent corruption by ensuring that projects form part of a coherent national plan.
