While the iron is hot

By Alex P. Vidal

“Investigation may be likened to the long months of pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.” — Mao Zedong

ILOILO Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. did not heavily press the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) central office to do something with the P680-million scandal-ridden Aganan Flyover in Pavia, Iloilo in the previous years probably because he sensed the past DPWH hierarchy was inutile to solve the mess.

Thus, he decided to act lock, stock, and barrel to address the scandal when the new DPWH administration under the leadership of fire-spewing Secretary Vince Dizon took over.

Defensor’s move was timely, acting feverishly while the iron is hot, so to speak.

The governor is aware Dizon is in the mood to let the chips fall where they may in as far as disciplinary action against erring contractors and unscrupulous DPWH minions are concerned.

Amid the flood control project anomalies crackdown, Dizon may include other substandard and neglected infrastructure projects around the country, particularly Defensor’s concern, in the ongoing blitzkrieg against irregularities committed by DPWH double-dealers and their ilk.

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Zeroing in on consultant discrepancies and delayed central office action as the main causes of the construction halt, Defensor informed Dizon in a letter, “I am writing to respectfully request a comprehensive update and clarification regarding the current status of the Aganan Flyover project in Pavia, Iloilo. The prolonged delay significantly disrupts traffic flow and continues to affect the daily lives and convenience of our residents.”

Defensor cited in his letter to Dizon that the flyover, which unwrapped in July 2020 with a 24-month target completion, has remained unfinished for years without an official resumption timeline.

The original contractor, United Technology Consolidated Partnership (UTCP), allegedly committed discrepancies in assessing the foundation depth, leading to the DPWH central office’s disapproval.

An estimated P275 million to P300 million additional funds may be needed for design revisions and rectifications tied to flawed soil testing, it was reported.

Funding for corrections has not been secured, leaving the project in limbo even if the DPWH regional office had submitted the revised design for review back to the DPWH central office.

Defensor explained: “Given these circumstances, the unresolved state of the project continues to burden the public—both in terms of daily traffic congestion and lost confidence in timely infrastructure delivery.”

Copies of the governor’s letter had been furnished to DPWH Region VI OIC Regional Director Joel F. Limpengco, Iloilo 2nd District Representative Kathryn Joyce Gorriceta, and the Infrastructure Committee of the Regional Development Council (RDC) VI.

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THE billions of pesos stolen by corrupt DPWH contractors and politicians in various flood control projects would have been enough to help rebuild the central Philippines, particularly Cebu, devastated by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake on September 30, 2025.

The money could have been used to erect shelters and edifices, build hospitals and public schools, concrete defense systems like sea walls, repair dikes and protects rivers just in case a tsunami occurs.

Most of the earthquake victims were from Bogo, a small town on one of the largest islands in the Visayas Islands, the Philippines’ central region and the place closest to the earthquake’s epicentre.

Many of them will rely on national and even international aides to rebuild their shattered lives as a result of the catastrophe.

Images coming out of Bogo showed body bags lined on the street and hundreds of people being treated in tent hospitals. Officials have warned of “a lot of damage” caused by the earthquakes.

The local authorities have appealed for volunteers with medical experience to help deal with injuries.

Buckled and cracked roads, and fallen bridges were also making access difficult for emergency services. Power lines in many places were down, meaning that it’s also been hard to speak to those affected.

Seven of those who died in Tuesday’s earthquake in Bogo had lived in a village built to house victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the central Philippines 12 years ago, killing more than 6,000 people.

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According to the Science of Earthquakes, the earth has four major layers: the inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. The crust and the top of the mantle make up a thin skin on the surface of our planet.

But this skin is not all in one piece – it is made up of many pieces like a puzzle covering the surface of the earth. Not only that, but these puzzle pieces keep slowly moving around, sliding past one another and bumping into each other.

We call these puzzle pieces tectonic plates, and the edges of the plates are called the plate boundaries. The plate boundaries are made up of many faults, and most of the earthquakes around the world occur on these faults.

Since the edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an earthquake.

While the edges of faults are stuck together, and the rest of the block is moving, the energy that would normally cause the blocks to slide past one another is being stored up.

When the force of the moving blocks finally overcomes the friction of the jagged edges of the fault and it unsticks, all that stored up energy is released.

The energy radiates outward from the fault in all directions in the form of seismic waves like ripples on a pond. The seismic waves shake the earth as they move through it, and when the waves reach the earth’s surface, they shake the ground and anything on it, like our houses and us!

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)