Highway

Bikolanos and visitors to the region who use the Quirino-Andaya National Highway to reach Camarines Sur often realize that they have left the Quezon province and crossed the border of Bikol because of the huge and numerous pot holes that welcome their vehicles. As it were, once the relatively smooth ride has ended, one is in Bikol.
After years of rehabilitation and repair, and after tremendous amount of money had been allotted and disbursed from the peoples’ money, the Quirino-Andaya National Highway remains a testament to how inefficient and even unsafe the government’s public works efforts are.
Last year, the Department on Budget and Management or DBM (which incidentally is headed by Noynoy Andaya) released more than Php 8 billion to DPWH Regional Office V under Fund 101 or General Funds and Projects. The same regional office received as Fund 102 or Special Funds and Foreign Assisted Projects the amount of  P170,946,556; and under Fund 151 or Maintenance Fund and other funding with MOA (agreement of projects with local governments and other agencies), it received P463,904,832.65. While not all of these moneys were meant for the said national highway, an enormous chunk of these funds was reported to have gone to the road’s repair.
Recently still, news have been received that another Php 500 Million is set to be disbursed this year to add to the rehabilitation fund of the said highway. One can wonder how, notwithstanding these, the said highway continues to be in the state of “rehabilitation and repair.” What adds to one’s consternation over this matter is the very poor and oftentimes, total lack of safety measures for motorists in the perennially “under repair” Quirino-Andaya National Highway. Frequently, road segments under repair have warning signs dangerously placed a mere three feet instead of—at least—three meters away from the said “reblocked” portion. The short distance of the poorly-placed makeshift signage endangers motorists and their vehicle especially at night. Worse still, there are parts of the highway undergoing reblocking that do not even have these warning signs.  Are there not enough funds for these safety measures? If there are, then how come motorists—Bikolanos and visitors alike—do not benefit from these safety measures? Much has been made about the improvement in the Quirino-Andaya National Highway lately. While that is true to a certain extent, its current state of repair (or more accurately, disrepair) does not do justice to its label of being a national highway. Filled with crater-like holes, perpetually being rehabilitated, lacking warning signs in crucial areas, this so-called highway is the government’s indictment of its own inefficiency and incompetence in public works.