‘This is no way to get public works projects done if we are serious about opening the Philippines for business, enticing foreign investors even.’
ALONG the National Highway in GenSan (General Santos City, or what used to be called Dadiangas), there’s a major public works project underway.
Its exact location is between the barangays of Obrero and City Heights — and it’s a considerably long vehicular underpass that crosses a major intersection that, I am told, is a main traffic zone most of the day.
The underpass reminds me of the Ayala-EDSA one, albeit a little less expansive, but it puts to shame an older one that is used so often along the National Highway (or is that the old bypass road) in Davao City, especially for those going to or coming from the airport.
Actually, the one in GenSan is impressive in its scope. However, I suspect that the only thing that will be longer than the length of the underpass is the time it will take to complete it. In fact, my gut feeling is that by the time the underpass is finished, it is already obsolete — or its impact on traffic decongestion will be far less than if it were completed today or tomorrow.
You see, on the two occasions that I passed through it (in the morning) and around it (in the afternoon) I didn’t see one single soul at work. Unless, of course, the contractor was using ghost employees who are only visible to those with a third eye.
No wonder I also didn’t see signs that said “Caution: Men at Work.” Because there weren’t any.
To be fair GenSan, can be a tough place to work on an infra project. A resident joked to me when I arrived there over the weekend by saying “Welcome to Hell.” It was indeed sooo hot that I had images of streets that were shaded because they had roofings made out of solar panels — and I suspect if this were to happen GenSan could generate enough power to light up the whole of Mindanao. It’s that hot.
And when my friend showed me a relatively new golf course in the Municipality of Tupi, the thought struck me that had Tiger Woods been born in GenSan even as an albino he would end up as dark as he is now to become as good a golfer as he is. It’s that hot.
But is that the reason why there were no men at work? Because it was so hot?
Actually, the GenSan project is not alone; along the National Highway built to connect Bataraza in Southern Palawan to El Nido in the north you’ll see a few stretches of the highway being completed or repaired by men who weren’t there during what is supposed to be working hours! I’d see a few under tents close to the work area — but at 1:40 p.m. or even a little past 2 there was no one, or maybe just one, truly working on the site.
Throughout the country, I am sure we can put together a collage of photos of infrastructure projects where you won’t see anyone hard at work where an army of working menfolk should be.
Does this explain why public works projects take forever to complete? Is this how the contractors make money? Or maybe, they all work at night when the rest of us are fast asleep?
This is no way to get public works projects done if we are serious about opening the Philippines for business, enticing foreign investors even.
Get the missing “men at work” to work.