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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Naghihintay pa ng disgrasya?': Dizon laments lack of sense of urgency in DPWH, seeks change of mindset among officials

'Naghihintay pa ng disgrasya?': Dizon laments lack of sense of urgency in DPWH, seeks change of mindset among officials

Published May 9, 2026 12:24 pm  |  Updated May 9, 2026 09:57 pm
photo: DPWH
photo: DPWH
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon is seeking an overhauling of mindset among its district and regional office officials in terms of urgently acting at least on the repair of damaged roads and bridges in their respective areas of responsibility.
For Dizon, it does not need a lot of thinking and calculations to determine if a damage road or bridge is already posing serious risk to the life and limb of motorists and other road users.
And that does not include the basic use of common sense that government service is supposed to make the life of the people comfortable.
In the case of the portion of the Marcos Highway in Tuba, Benguet that caved in at the height of the super typhoon “Nando” last year, the damaged road in Barangay Taloy Sur is still not repaired which resulted in heavy traffic in the area.
“This has been a one-way road for a long time and once the rainy season comes, the risk that this will be further damaged is high,” said Dizon during his site inspection.
What he doesn’t like, according to Dizon, was that local officials appeared to be waiting for his decision before they would act on the urgency of repair of roads and bridges.
The same issue was raised by Dizon when he found out just last week that a bridge in Daraga, Albay is yet to be completed 15 years after the construction began.
Dizon promised to complete the bridge repair in Albay in two to three months and he made the same commitment for the damaged portion of Marcos Highway in Tuba town.
The DPWH Secretary then stressed the need for at least regional officials to act with urgency on the same problems.
“We have to empower regions (DPWH regional offices) that they should not wait for my decision,” said Dizon.
He also emphasized the need to get rid of old school ways of repair that takes a lot of time and chose new modern methodologies that focus more on addressing infrastructure repairs as quick as possible.
The DPWH is currently facing another corruption-related issue relating to trillion-peso worth of stolen public funds through anomalous flood control projects.
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