We commend President Bongbong Marcos Jr. for requiring the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to coordinate with local governments when implementing national infrastructure projects within their jurisdiction.

According to the President, he is restoring this requirement in order to strengthen the accountability of national government agencies. An important item on the President’s directive is the requirement that local chief executives must formally accept the projects before they are officially declared as “completed.” He pointed out that this is a safeguard against “substandard output” by the contractors engaged by the DPWH.

The President’s move is expected to “cure” some current “practices” by the DPWH, which had created problems for certain LGUs. It will be recalled that in one of our recent columns, we called attention to the practice of some DPWH officials of implementing projects without the required permits from the local government. On certain occasions, some projects were actually implemented without the knowledge of the concerned local officials.

This was not merely an issue of “disrespect.” The reason is also practical. The absence of coordination watered down the sense of accountability and curtailed the ability of local governments to handle the disruption in people’s lives and mobility that infrastructure projects usually bring about. The public blames local governments for such inconvenience. It is also the LGU that gets blamed for substandard and failed projects, including those involving flood control.

“Coordination” and “cooperation” are “sacred” practices at the local government level and among LGUs. They become even more important in times of emergencies and other forms of natural or man-made calamities.

We mentioned the case of a “flood control” measure implemented by some DPWH executives in Marikina City in one of our recent columns. It will be recalled that the said officials installed measures to mitigate flooding there. The problem was that the measure entailed pumping the flood waters out of Marikina and into the areas under the jurisdiction of Antipolo City.

So, here is a situation where DPWH Marikina was “credited” for “solving” a problem by passing on the problem to another LGU.

We suspect that Marikina Mayor Maan Teodoro may not have been fully apprised regarding the “solution” that the DPWH had in mind. We are sure she would not have consented to such a “strategy.” As we said in our column, Mayor Maan immediately acted on that concern when we brought it up to her. As we said, “coordination” and “cooperation” are sacred among LGUs, and we hope these values are respected by national government agencies.

The President’s directive requiring the DPWH to coordinate with LGUs will definitely help ensure better working relationships.

We believe that since the LGU head will now have to accept a DPWH project before it is officially declared “completed,” DPWH officials will now comply with permitting requirements. After all, the request for a permit is an act of “informing” and “generating support” for the LGU that issues it.

Moreover, the “completion” of a project includes checkmarks on an agency’s compliance with the necessary requirements. An LGU cannot accept a project the implementation of which it did not permit in the first place.

The President’s move also raises the level of protection against substandard projects.

As we have mentioned several times, the local government head takes all the blame for any and all adversities experienced by their constituents. These include the collective suffering of the communities under his or her jurisdiction resulting from failed or substandard projects. For sure, no LGU head in his or her right mind would accept a substandard project and take the blame for it.

We are glad that the President has been making important steps to bring the current situation to a meaningful conclusion. We lauded his move to heed the clamor for an independent body to investigate the alleged anomalies in the national government’s flood-control projects, and his decision to name non-politicians in the three-man Independent Commission on Infrastructure.

Much earlier, he accepted the resignation of the DPWH head and named Secretary Vince Dizon to the post. This indicates a firm resolve on the Chief Executive’s part to address this particular problem.

Our hope is that the President would impose the same requirement for strict coordination with LGUs on other national government agencies that implement projects within their communities. This is not just a matter of courtesy. It will ensure accountability and will enable local governments to extend their full support to an efficient and responsible implementation of these projects.

(The author is a Doctor of Medicine, an entrepreneur and the current mayor of Antipolo City, former Rizal governor, and DENR assistant secretary, LLDA general manager. Email: [email protected])