What major insight have I gained so far from my on-going experiences in engaging the initiative?
By Luis Emmanuel G. Fleta
As a part-time resident of Mandaluyong City, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge is something of significant relevance to me, especially as someone who commutes through the thickness of traffic everyday.
It’s funny how our group actually obtained more data regarding the ongoing bridge re-construction from another agency instead of the actual LGU itself. Inquiries with the city office have proven so far to be just failed attempts at communication. And the bureaucracy of requesting for letters and fixed appointments to hopefully visit the site and talk to local engineers or officials have been so far brutal. So with this, we turn to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Based from 2019 data from the Investment Coordination Committee NEDA Board (ICC-NB) list of approved projects, we have discovered so far that as of January 2019, the construction progress is at 0.765% taking into account that groundbreaking started in July 2018.
It took almost a whopping six months to reach less than 1% progress.
Of course, we are desperately hopeful that construction pace have sped up ever since or else it will take roughly 60 years if it maintains the January 2019 construction status that NEDA gave. Sure, 60 years is an exaggeration considering there have been multiple Senate hearings that delayed construction (Senate investigations regarding the dubious bidding handed over to a Chinese firm), but even if the bridge was finished in less than a year, the fact of the matter remains - the whole construction is in controversy.
Throughout this whole endeavor, I realized that in any construction project pushed by our government, it always has three phases that should undergo scrutiny: pre, post, and during.
‘Pre’ refers to everything planning and approval-related like technical aspects, bidding awards, how it will be financed. ‘Post’ refers to everything evaluation-related like whether or not outcomes or outputs are achieved and up to standard. Meanwhile, ‘during’ in the context of construction refers to the integrity of the process as well as the speed and quality of work. All three should be closely watched under a microscope. And oftentimes, not everyone is given a chance to hold that microscope.
As a resident of the area or even if you’re not, perhaps you’re just a commuter or a passerby, the conclusion is that we’re all stakeholders in the project. We should not just be waiting around and waking up hoping that one day we could finally pass by that bridge again. There’s always a way to be involved,. You’ll be surprised by just how much pressure our collective opinion and efforts can bring to the table.