TUBA, Benguet – Indigenous peoples are questioning the implementation of a multi-million asphalt overlay project being undertaken by the public works department along the Baguio-Asin road because it is not one of the supposed priority projects that will be implemented along the roadline aside from issues being raised on the quality of the project.
Junar Paloma, president of the Tadiangan Indigenous Peoples and Community Organization (TIPCO), stated that the residents were surprised to learn about the implementation of the multi-million project when the Pampanga-based contractor started working on the asphalt overlay without consulting the communities that will be affected by the project.
Further, he claimed that the asphalt being placed on top of the concrete pavement seems to be very thin, which casts doubt on the outcome of the project, especially during the onset of the rainy season when heavy rains will start to wash away the asphalt overlay.
He also raised concern on how the project was awarded to an outsider when there are many competent local contractors who are capable of implementing such a very simple project apart from the fact that local contractors will value the importance of prosecuting better projects because it will be the people that will directly benefit from it compared to the attitude of outsiders.
According to him, some of the workers of the contractor whom he interviewed narrated to him that they were just asked to come to the area and work in the said project while the contractor is allegedly completing the documents of the asphalt overlay.
The IP officer stipulated that concerned government agencies and the local government must initiate the conduct of an in-depth investigation on the evident anomalies surrounding the implementation of the asphalt overlay project along the Baguio-Asin road and other roads in the Cordillera to ascertain why such projects were awarded to a Pampanga-based contractor even without the benefit of subjecting the same through the rigid bidding process.
Paloma pointed out that people are not against the implementation of development projects within their communities but the identification of the priority projects must be subjected to consultations with the affected communities and for concerned agencies to adhere to the procedures in the awarding of such projects to qualified and competent contractors who put premium on quality and good workmanship and not on the profit to be derived from the same.
Moreover, Paloma alleged that the workers of the contractor working on the Baguio-Asin road asphalt overlay project are underpaid as their wages are simply lightly over the prevailing daily minimum wage in the Cordillera, thus, the need for the intervention of the labor department on the said issue aside from the fact that there are no signages that are in place in strategic areas which is also a violation of existing rules and regulations governing the prosecution of projects handed down by the public works department.
He asserted that people must be vocal on the questionable projects that are being undertaken in their communities to send a clear message to the concerned authorities that their concerns should not be taken for granted by the agencies regulating the implementation of the said projects.
