It wasn’t “broke”
Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc. |
NINFA R. LEONARDIA
Editor-in-Chief & President | CARLA
P. GOMEZ Editor
CHERYL CRUZ
Desk Editor
PATRICK PANGILINAN
Busines
Editor
NIDA A. BUENAFE
Sports Editor
RENE GENOVE Bureau
Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising
Coordinator | CARLOS
ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer |
There had been so much talk about the diggings going on at Bacolod’s most prominent street, that is Lacson, which runs through practically the entire length of the city, that our staff decided to take closer looks at the excavations there. The complaints from residents had ranged from the inconvenience of having to skirt around the areas being dug up, especially during rush hours, to the obvious expense that such unnecessary government work must entail.
A few months ago, there were also a lot of complaints about the work being undertaken, said to be by the Department of Public Works and Highways, that was the installation of expensive tiles on the sidewalks that many felt neither enhanced their appearance nor its convenience. Those who brought their gripes to the DAILY STAR pointed out that the huge amount that had gone into the purchase and installation of those tiles could have improved the roads in so many other areas of the city, several of them classified as national roads that are under the supervision of the DPWH, and not of the city itself.
And then came the overlaying of the concreted main street, with dark asphalt, that most also saw as unnecessary, when the funds could have gone to more urgent needs as far as the city roads are concerned. The asphalting continued, and even while it was going on, some professionals already pointed out that it had “muffled” the manholes, so vital to the flushing out of the drainage system.
Bacolod City was lucky in that the recent rains that had brought so much flooding and destruction to other parts of the country, had spared it. But what if similar downpours had come, how could the flood flow out freely since the manholes are covered?
Well, the DPWH has no explanation, and the digging to uncover them goes on. They, or whoever ordered them to do it, probably have never heard of the folk saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.*
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