Ungka Flyover a year after

Daily Guardian revisits the P680-million Ungka Flyover – a once beacon of progress that turned into a nightmare – more than a year after we first broke the story on its sinking piers or foundations in September 2022.

In a DG Documentary special, we asked the protagonists for the back story and what should and would be done to resolve the controversy.

Among the resource persons are DG editor-in-chief Francis Allan Angelo who first broke the story that shook Iloilo and Western Visayas in the past year; the commuters and residents who are affected by the closure of the structure to traffic; Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas; Department of Public Works and Highways OIC-Regional Director Sanny Boy Oropel; and Atty. Eldrid Antiquiera who sought the Ombudsman’s help on the matter.

We also reached out to the project contractor International Builders Corp., but we were unable to get their comment despite the ample time and persistent requests.

Another P200 million will be spent to “correct” the defects of the flyover and the works will again mean another year of monstrous traffic jams for commuters. The noisiest call now is to hasten the repairs, drowning the more important aspect of accountability for the wasted public funds.

This documentary is more than a simple reminiscence of history, an unsavory one at that, but attempts to call for accountability from those responsible for this controversy.

A lot of questions remain unanswered, particularly:

-Was the design faulty and who should be blamed for this?

-Is the contractor the innocent party, the unwitting victim, or a willing participant?

-Is the flyover’s structure indeed reliable and safe for commuters to use in the next decade?

More than anything else, this documentary is a call to action for more vigilance and transparency in publicly funded projects.