Question: What major airport development project in the country holds the record for the longest completion time?
Answer: The construction of the Airport Passenger Terminal Building, Tacloban City.
I would qualify this because that is only an impression. It could be the most delayed airport terminal building construction project in the Philippines.
The construction of the Terminal Building started in 2020. It was supposed to be completed in May 2022. It is now 2026, in its sixth year of construction, and only 85 percent complete, based on the latest DPWH data for Phase III of the project.
A few weeks ago, the government announced that the building will open to the public in four months, February next year. My comment is that it will not happen. Even last week, I stated in this column that another announcement would be made in March 2027 that the completion date would be moved to February 2028, a few days before the elections in May of that year.,
A few more facts are important. The Contractor for Phase III is Octagon Concrete Solutions, Inc. Original Contract Cost: 964 million pesos. Note: this is in addition to the costs for Phases I and II of the New Terminal Building Construction. For next week’s issue, I will provide data on Phases I and II funding so readers will know how much this building will cost when completed in Phase III.
However, based on what I learned in interagency meetings, these phases I and II cost a combined 2 billion pesos, plus the concreting of the area beside the terminal building that will be used by the aircraft, which cost another billion pesos and was done before 2020.
This brings the cost to four billion pesos. And it is not done yet.
The original contract period for Phase III ended in February 2026. But this was extended to August 2026. Still, Phase III work is not complete,
The actual accomplishment as of October 31, 2026 is only 85 percent. Negative slippage is at 15 percent.
Similar to what happened in Phases I and II, there is another variation order that will cover work items done in a way that differed from the plan, thus achieving two things: additional days to complete the project, thus avoiding millions of pesos in liquidated damages, and, more importantly, adding funds to the construction cost as a result of the new scope of work.
In both instances, there could be opportunities for corruption. Whenever government officials have discretion to approve or disapprove a project, they may act favorably in exchange for bribes and commissions.
The persons who are mandated to do the reviews and approvals of the variation orders and the funding for these should be honest and follow the anti-corruption laws,
The DPWH has implemented changes in its procedures and attitudes toward exercising its mandates. Quite impressive.
But we still hear stories like it's back to the old ways; that corruption will never be stopped, only minimized. In fact, former DPWH Secretary Babes Singzon admitted in a talk show that the late Pres. Ninoy Aquino agreed to the suggestion that a 5 to 10 percent rate should be informally approved for DPWH.
In a testimony before the Sandiganbayan, state witness former Usec. Roberto Bernardo of DPWH categorically pointed out that everyone in the DPWH and all legislators commit this corruption.
Although the media did not highlight it, to me, that was damning testimony from a high government official with personal knowledge of the illegal transactions. This corroborated what state witness former Secretary Manuel Bonoan stated in open court about a “leadership fund” for Senators.
Will the Tacloban Airport Development Project ever get finished? It is already six years in the making, and counting.
#Opinyon #WeTakeAStand #Tacloban