ANOTHER PROMISE?

For the endless time, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has made yet another promise to San Pedrenses.

That promise is that the northbound exit connecting San Pedro City, Laguna to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) will be finished by the end of 2024.

This, after 1st District Representative Ann Matibag fought tooth and nail to pressure DPWH officials to name a final deadline on when the P140-million infrastructure project will finally be opened to motorists.

This frustration had been made manifest by the comments made by netizens on OpinYon Laguna’s cover story the previous week concerning the lack of progress on the San Pedro northbound toll plaza.

“Sinungaling sila. Hindi pa yan tapos. Ang laking ginhawa sana sa tulad naming mga commuter na dumadaan araw-araw sa slex via susana heights at nata traffic dyan sa Tunasan imbis na sa san pedro northbound toll plaza na dadaan," was how netizen Edgar Marcaida put it.

Good news?

In an interview with OpinYon Laguna, San Pedro City Administrator Atty. Henry Salazar reported that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had had some “good news” for them at a meeting held between the DPWH’s head office and city officials last Wednesday, March 6.

“Nai-award na raw po ng DPWH yung last phase ng project, yung sa intersection ng interchange ng San Pedro,” Salazar said.

He added that the DPWH had reportedly solved the problem of the right-of-way issues that had stalled the construction of the bridge connecting the northbound and southbound portions of the exit.

“Hopefully, by this March ay maisyuhan na ng ‘notice to proceed’ ang contractor [para muling masimulan ang proyekto],” Salazar noted.

In two weeks’ time, the city administrator also reported, the city government is set to meet again with DPWH to finalize the management of traffic on the interchange – especially important as the expected resumption of the project coincided with the starting of other major road repair projects of the city government of San Pedro.

“Kung masisimulan talaga nila ito by March or April of this year, tapos na raw po ang project by the end of the year, magagamit na ito ng ating mga kababayan,” he added.

It's complicated

Yet it’s not far-fetched to say that San Pedrenses will probably greet this news with skepticism.

The reason: as it turned out, the DPWH database showing the project as "100-percent" complete hides the fact that the implementation was repeatedly stalled in the past six years.

Documents provided by Representative Matibag’s office to OpinYon Laguna showed how the northbound toll plaza was constructed in what appeared to be a "stop-and-go" manner since it was started in 2018.

For instance, the first phase of the project, costing around P250 million, was finished in 2018, but the next phase, costing P100 million, was shelved and the "funds reverted" back to the DPWH.

As of 2024, the report forwarded by Matibag's office showed, three phases of the project – the construction of the toll plaza itself and the concreting of the approach to the bridge – is now in various stages of completion.

The construction of the toll plaza itself, which amounted to P70 million, is now "ongoing construction" (although latest checks show no sign of construction yet), while the construction of the toll supervision building had just been awarded last year to a firm called S. D. Platon Construction, Inc.

Both projects are slated to be completed by July and December of this year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the final stage of the project – the P20-million road concreting project – has been bidded out but not yet awarded. (Update: This was the final phase of the project that San Pedro City Administrator Salazar had said had finally been awarded a contract.)

Total bill

That same document showed that by the time the project is finally completed, the DPWH had spent around P915 million in a span of over six years for this project alone.

It’s a far cry from the P140 million that the agency have originally allotted for the project, if the DPWH database is to be believed.

That is, if we count the P100 million that was reverted back to the DPWH in 2019 for unknown reasons, or the P75 million in “expired funds” that caused a portion of the project to be terminated in 2021.

What a waste of time and money, but not unusual given the DPWH’s prior history of shoddy bridge-building.

For instance, a major flyover project in Barangay Ungka, Iloilo City that was billed for P680 million remained unusable for months after it was completed last year, as structural flaws in the bridge forced a major repair job on the structure.

And even this year, OpinYon’s Panay Island bureau reported, Ilonggos still had to contend with the fact that “serviceable hours” for the flyover remains limited, as well as the fact that the bridge remains limited to light vehicles.

For San Pedrenses who are still waiting in vain for the day when this vital road link to Metro Manila will finally be opened to the public, the inevitable question should probably be not “When?” but “How much?”

As of press time, DPWH officials have yet to respond to official queries made by OpinYon Laguna regarding the project.

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