THE OTHER day, we saw in a Facebook post Davao City Acting Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte who did not mince words in his desire to banish from the city lawmen who are likely scalawags. He demanded that they must leave Davao City or be assigned to areas where their undesirable character fits to be situated.
We cannot help but assume that the Mayor’s harsh statement could have been his reaction after a policeman tested positive for using prohibited drugs after a random testing was conducted on members of the police force on orders of the newly assumed Acting Davao Police Director Col. Mannan Muarip.
Yes, we cannot blame the acting mayor for his disdain for lawmen who are supposed to enforce the law but are themselves the ones breaking the same.
Imagine, a drug user-policeman running after his fellow drug users, though they may be civilians. They are indeed a shame to the entire police force, not just in Davao City or the Davao Region, but of the Police organization in general.
As far as we are concerned, these policemen do not deserve any second chance, not even if their use of the prohibited substance has something to do with issues of their health.
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A few days back, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reacted to billboards set up in the vicinity of the far-from-completed C.P. Garcia Diversion Highway-Maa junction flyover project. Inscribed on the billboards are claims that the reason for the delay is the withholding by the national government of the release of the project funds.
The agency strongly denied the allegation, saying that the funds for the project have already been released and that there are reasons why the work appears stopped. Primarily, the DPWH said that the work has to be temporarily halted because it has yet to acquire the road right-of-way on certain sections where the road has to be widened. Moreover, the DPWH claims that utility companies like Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC) and telecommunication firms have yet to transfer their poles and other facilities.
The national government’s infrastructure agency further made its justification official when its representatives reiterated the reason during the City Council session, where the agency was called to shed light.
The other day, however, Davao Light, through its Corporate Reputation Department head, told members of the media that the company is always ready and capable of transferring its poles when the DPWH is able to settle the issue of road-right-of-way acquisition.
In other words, the electricity distribution company was saying that its responsibility of transferring its poles is dependent on when the right-of-way is acquired. After all, the poles have to be erected only on the one-meter easement from the edge of the roadside.
Well, this particular case can be resolved with the question, “Whose work must be done first, that of the DPWH or the utility companies? Yes, clearly, the DPWH or the project contractor cannot proceed with work if the right-of-way is not acquired first. So the agency must do its best to settle that delaying barrier to the flyover’s completion.
Meanwhile, the utility companies, much as they would want to immediately fulfill their responsibility, cannot do so. The utility firms, we are certain, would rather not embroil themselves in squabbles with property owners when the responsibility of acquiring the right-of-way is not theirs but of the DPWH.
In other words, the public utility firms’ job starts only when the DPWH fully acquires the desired right-of-way for the flyover project.
We are aware that the utility firms are also ordered to have their officials appear in the next City Council session to present their side on the controversy. It is worth watching.
