Village chief claims ICDEO push to suspend drainage

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

A barangay captain in Lapuz district alleged that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)–Iloilo City District Engineering Office (ICDEO) tried to make her sign a letter seeking suspension of drainage repair works to give way to a nearby flood control project.

Alalasan village chief Jofel Ladiet told Bombo Radyo Iloilo on Wednesday that she was approached by ICDEO personnel on Oct. 8 with a drafted letter for her signature.

The letter, with her name as signatory, was addressed to OIC District Engineer Roy Pacanan and purportedly asked him to temporarily suspend repair and maintenance works on drainage along the La Paz–Lapuz Road.

The suspension was to give way to the implementation of a flood control project.

The letter presented by Ladiet to the radio station contained only the project’s contract ID and not its title.

Daily Guardian tried to verify the contract ID number on the DPWH procurement portal but found no results.

A web search linked the ID to a video on the DPWH ICDEO’s Youtube account, whose description stated the contract was for “Construction of Flood Mitigation Structures within Iloilo City Waterways, Section 3.”

Further checks led to previous news reports indicating the project referred to a waterways structure along Buntatala Creek with a contract price of PHP 102 million.

As of September, reports said the project was 21.44 percent complete and suspended due to obstructions from existing waterlines.

“They came to me just last October 8 with a letter that they I needed to sign, requesting [Pacanan] for temporary suspension [of the drainage] to implement the [waterway] structure [project],” Ladiet told the radio station.

“I wouldn’t sign [the letter] because I didn’t know that. They didn’t say in our previous meeting that I needed to sign something, and as far as I know, barangay captains don’t request the DPWH on a project. What I knew is that we ask the city [government] or the [lone district representative ] for projects, or if they have an offer for us,” she added.

“They said that it was favorable to the barangay because there would be declogging, but declogging starts at Jalandoni Estate, then going to a portion of Alalasan. But why am I being asked to sign a letter? I also don’t know the extent [of the waterway project] because I’m not an engineer and I don’t know the projects [the ICDEO] is indicating in the letter,” she said.

District engineering offices implement national road and flood control projects and typically coordinate with local governments on right-of-way, traffic management and utility conflicts.

Daily Guardian has reached out to the DPWH-ICDEO but was referred to the DPWH–Western Visayas regional office for comment.