Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan on Monday defended the Kennon Road rockshed project, which President Marcos dismissed as “useless” during his inspection on Sunday.
Bonoan said that he will brief the President on the original design of the Kennon Road rockshed, which was intended to span 250 meters to fully cover the hazardous section prone to landslides.
The project, estimated at P498 million, had to be scaled down to 151 meters due to budget limitations, leaving parts of the slope unprotected.
“I will report to the President on the current status of the rockshed, the challenges brought by the reduced scope, and the real story behind the project,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tuba, Benguet Mayor Clarita Sal-ongan asserted that the newly completed P264-million rockshed is not totally useless noting that the structure paved the way for the immediate clearing of fallen soil and rocks from the fractured mountain slope instead of the roadline sustaining substantial road cuts.
In an interview, Bonoan assured that the Kennon Road rockshed remains effective in shielding motorists from falling rocks.
He also ordered immediate repairs on nearby structures weakened by recent landslides caused by a series of weather disturbances last month.
The DPWH chief visited Tuba to inspect the riverbed below the rockshed and to assess how to better safeguard the structure.
During the inspection, Bonoan stressed that the rockshed remains intact and continues to serve its purpose. He assured the public that no funds had gone to waste.
Sal-ongan, in an interview with reporters, pointed out that the 150-meter rockshed built along the landslide-prone area of Kennon Road prevented huge debris from inflicting heavy damages to the road leading to road cuts that would take several months to restore that is why residents of communities along the main road have actually benefitted from its construction regardless of questions on the way it was planned, programmed and implemented.
She claimed that the municipal officials and the people living in the communities know best about the benefits of the rockshed because it paved the way for falling debris from the fractured mountain slope to be directed to the river bed instead of directly impacting into the pavement that could have resulted in much bigger damages on the road.
Further, she added that maintenance personnel of the public works department and contractors had easier means of clearing the accumulated debris compared to the time when the rockshed was not yet constructed as it took time for them to restore road cuts to the prejudice of the residents in various communities along the road.
However, Sal-ongan seconded President Marcos’s contention that local governments should be consulted by concerned national government agencies in the implementation of programs, projects and activities within their respective jurisdictions, saying that in the case of the rockshed, the public works department never elicited the position of the municipal government nor sought its acceptance when the structure was completed.
According to her, local officials are in a better position to provide their suggestions and recommendations on how to go about the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of various projects being implemented in their respective areas of jurisdiction that is why they should be consulted prior to the roll out of any high impact development projects in their places to avoid future complications that might compromise the said projects.
She welcomed the decision of the President to re-institute the acceptance of local governments on the projects that will be completed in their places but warned that local chief executives must also be reasonable in ascertaining the standards of the completed projects to prevent serious delays in the processing of payments for the completed works by the contractors instead of weaponizing their power to force the project implementers to give in to their demands for their personal and political aggrandizement.
