2 days ago
1
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
It was a heartless and idiotic idea to begin with and it was just as well that BBM stopped it. It would have caused so much hardship that the political cost of the EDSA rehabilitation obviously exceeds the promised benefits.
“In the planned EDSA rehabilitation, there were many who worried, ‘what will happen to our jobs? If the time we commute is already so long, it will add another one or two hours, we won’t be able to go home anymore,’” BBM quoted the complaints he received.
“Besides, we saw new technology that had not been used in the planning of the EDSA rehabilitation. So, I instructed Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon and Secretary Manny Bonoan of the DPWH to pause the rehabilitation,” BBM said.
Actually, it was DPWH Secretary Bonoan who refused to see the people’s problems with the EDSA rehab plan. DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon had been trying to convince Bonoan to rethink the plan. But Bonoan couldn’t see the political implications of causing so much hardship right on EDSA for two years (assuming no delays) leading to 2028.
Enough hardships to trigger another EDSA uprising for a project that many people do not even think is all that necessary or urgent!
Rene Montemayor, a reader of this column, wrote to say exactly that.
“During the past week, I had three round trips from the EDSA-Ortigas intersection to the EDSA- Roxas Blvd. and a round trip from the EDSA-Ortigas intersection to the EDSA-Ayala Avenue intersection. My estimate is that at least 80 percent of the concrete blocks on EDSA in the stretches of both sides on EDSA I mentioned are still good.
“I do not see the need to embark on a project to rip out most if not all these good concrete blocks. Perhaps a major “re-blocking” of the 10-20 percent of the damaged concrete blocks…”
Former LTO chief Mar Santiago also made good observations about the EDSA rehab on Facebook:
“Honestly, I do not know what kind of rehabilitation is needed at EDSA that it must be rushed. If it were only to impress the delegates to the ASEAN Summit Meeting, the rehabilitation is meaningless, uneconomical and unnecessary…
“If it is only the riding quality that would be improved without significant traffic engineering to improve the traffic flow, the project should be re-studied and set for another time…”
But I am not surprised DPWH failed to show empathy. DPWH officials have long been known to live in a world of their own. They have been ripping up good concrete roads while allowing badly damaged pavements to continually endanger the public.
A good example is the lane on C-5 used by the trucks. That has been horrible for a long time. They pour some asphalt every now and then but fail to really do a good job of fixing it. Easy to suspect they have used inferior cement base to allow the contractor to give their baksheesh to bureaucrats and politicians.
The other reason the public rejected the EDSA rehab project was the feeling that DPWH will not do a good job anyway. DPWH can’t be trusted to deliver as promised.
In July 2019, then DPWH secretary Mark Villar promised a five-minute travel time from Cubao to Makati. It was a stupid promise to make and today, June 2025, it still takes one hour to do that commute if you are lucky.
Secretary Bonoan had not been terribly credible lately. When that bridge in Isabela collapsed, he sounded so detached during the congressional hearing. It was as if, wala lang, just another day at DPWH. He didn’t sound concerned. Same with the Iloilo flyover that couldn’t be used.
If his being Ilocano is not a consideration, BBM should replace him with Housing Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling. We need a fresh view at DPWH that an old hand like Bonoan is no longer capable of having. Aliling will be more useful at DPWH because his career has always been in assuring high quality work in private sector construction projects.
It is not too late for BBM to reassign Aliling who will be more useful at DPWH than at the housing agency. Indeed, the housing agency will be better led by someone with a solid finance or property background than construction. The problem there is financing and affordability and not construction.
Maybe, once the MRT3, the busway and C-6 projects are fully functional, some EDSA rehabilitation is possible, segment by segment.
Sec. Vince in his first weeks in office was so appalled at the lack of consideration for the commuters. He hurriedly convinced San Miguel to allow free use of the Stage 3 expressway even if that isn’t a most ideal solution.
Of course, RSA was easy to convince when it comes to public welfare. But he has a better long-term plan.
RSA reminded me that SMC has a pending concession agreement with TRB as part of the Bulacan airport access. That includes an EDSA elevated highway that he said he can build in three years. It only needs BBM’s approval.
It is all pre-fabricated steel girders and pre-fabricated concrete coping beams and concrete precast slabs flooring and asphalt.
However, there are those who say an elevated highway on EDSA would make the metro area uglier. Not necessarily.
I have been impressed with how Malaysia has incorporated greenery into both elevated and ground-level expressways. My son and I once drove to Malacca from Singapore and their expressway was a sight to see. In Kuala Lumpur, I noticed landscaping beneath and around the elevated expressways.
The point simply is, the government cannot close the entire EDSA without a viable alternative for at least two years. It is like closing your aorta and depriving your body of blood. That DPWH even thought of it is ghastly.
Good thing BBM intervened. This Marcos prevented another EDSA uprising.
Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco
