An executive of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has told a non-government organization leader to brush up on math amid continuous allegations that the Manila Bay beach nourishment project is "overpriced."
DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and LGU Concerns Benny Antiporda said he had reached out three times to Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon to enlighten him that the overlaying of dolomite sand was not overpriced as he thought.
"This gentleman has been criticizing the project, claiming it was 'overpriced.' In the spirit of fairness, I took it upon myself to call him on the phone, not once but thrice on different occasions," Antiporda said in a statement.
On his first call, the DENR official explained to Ridon that the project is estimated to cover 30,000 square meters, with the length of 500 meters by 60 meters width.
"To make it look overpriced, Ridon divided the project cost, which is P389 million, by 500 meters, instead of the number of square meters. This erroneous formula led him to conclude that the project costs P778,000 per meter. But if he divided P389 million by 30,000 square meters, the result would be P12,267 per square meter, which is quite reasonable. He certainly got a lecture on Math 101," Antiporda said.
"I also explained to him that only P28 million was used to emplace the crushed dolomite rocks. Moreover, the amount covers not only the price of the crushed dolomites, but the whole package which includes the delivery cost from Cebu to Manila Bay," he added.
Antiporda also criticized Ridon as he also once served under the Duterte administration as chair of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor.
"He merely shrugged and told me that we should just explain it to the public, which is actually what we have been doing all along," he said.
He pointed out that he tried to reach out again to Ridon on the second occasion to reiterate his response to the allegation of overpricing, "but my call fell on deaf ears and he continued with his unfounded criticisms against the project."
On the third time that Antiporda called Ridon, "he kept on insisting that the project was overpriced despite my repeated explanation," which out of his frustration blurted “bobo ka (Ridon) sa Math (you are stupid in Math)."
"In all these circumstances, I tried to reach out to him in the hope that he would listen with an open mind about our mission to bring Manila Bay back to its former glory. But his actions speak that whatever this government undertakes, will only get flak from him and his group," Antiporda said.