Lacson criticizes DPWH for Cordillera road project

A multi-billion peso road project of the Department of Public Works and Highways could result in loss of lives and properties, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Wednesday, citing a lack of planning.

The DPWH did not consult the Mines and Geosciences Bureau before constructing the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) Circumferential Road in the Cordillera Administrative Region, the senator said.

From 2017 to 2019 some P1.84 billion was earmarked for BLISTT:

• P590 million for 2019

• P800 million for 2018

• P450 million for 2017

But the DPWH did not seem to anticipate the potential hazards involved in the project, Lacson noted.

“We should take all possible factors into consideration. While there is no doubt a road project such as the BLISTT are important as they promise shorter travel time and stimulation of economic activity, there should have been planning to address various concerns, such as safety.”

The BLISTT project “could very well be a microcosm of many infrastructure projects of the national government,” Lacson noted.

“There are lessons to be learned from this. One is that due diligence is part of the planning,” he said.

During a Senate committee hearing on the DPWH budget for 2019, t he senator said the MGB have red-flagged parts of the road in landslide-prone areas and prompt the department to build slope protection.

Last May, at least one person was killed five others were injured when their 10-wheeler dump truck fell off a ravine while crossing the Labey-Lacamen Provincial Road—after a landslide struck the area, the senator noted.

The Labey-Lacamen Provincial Road is part of the BLISTT projects.

“Without such planning, the BLISTT project clearly endangers lives not to mention a highly potential waste of funds, Lacson said in a press statement.

It is bad enough that the government loses money to corruption, but it is worse if the losses are due to lack of planning and preparation or simply put, incompetence, the senator said. —Amita Legaspi/VDS, GMA News