Senators grill DPWH’s Bonoan on ‘irritating’ road repair works

Senators pressed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to explain their diggings on “good roads” then repair them later, but bad roads which need to be fixed were left unattended.

The directive was issued during the Senate hearing of the proposed P821.107-billion budget of the DPWH for 2024.

Senator Ronald Dela Rosa and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III confronted DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan on massive diggings including roads that needed no fixing.

Dela Rosa asked Bonoan how can they avoid the public cursing them for destroying roads which they see as still good and sturdy.

“But the DPWH do not fix damaged roads. We’ve been questioning that. I have also been asking why they first repair good roads which they destroyed, but they’re not attending to damaged roads needing repair,” said Dela Rosa.

“I know this is just a small thing, but it is irritating on the part of the public to see roads being damaged and public funds being wasted,” he said.

Responding to the query, Bonoan argued it was a “very technical issue,” adding it was actually preventive maintenance and reconstruction.

He asserted that there comes a point when the road starts to deteriorate and “it would be more economical to undertake preventive maintenance.”

“Even if you see that a road is still good, there were instances when the pavement actually started to deteriorate,” said.

“So it will be more economical to repave it at that point in time so that we can save the base and subbase. We will no longer touch the base and subbase, it’s just the pavement that we’re going to replace,” Bonoan noted.

For roads that had deteriorated and the base and subbase had fallen, Bonoan said that’s going to be reconstructed. He said this will undergo bigger rehabilitation and reconstruction.

“We have to prevent the further deterioration of the subbase and base before anything else so we are just going to replace the running. Worst roads were being reconstructed,” Bonoan said.

Dela Rosa accepted Bonoan’s explanations, but Pimentel wasn’t satisfied, saying that the answer was so technical.

Pimentel said he saw a good road in Marikina being broken by DPWH.

“So it’s difficult to believe. It goes