Today a lot of families living under the Mandaue-Mactan bridge will have to move out to give way to a contractor’s crew that will finally proceed with the long-delayed repairs on the structure in order to meet its August target this year.
It’s not as if they have a choice on the matter though the possibility of them engaging in a violent standoff with teams sent by the Mandaue City government to ensure their transfer will be unlikely at best based on interviews with most of them.
There are a few key points to consider when reviewing everything that has happened as far as the bridge repairs are concerned. One, is that for all the time they were sidelined by the Metro Cebu local governments from proceeding with the bridge repairs in order not to aggravate traffic congestion during several major events last year, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) failed to consider how their works will affect those living near it.
That was the case with the DPWH’s slope benching work at the historic Ili Rock in Boljoon town two years ago in which they and their contractor QM Builders were accused by environmental and heritage groups of carelessly defacing the mountain.
Though the slope benching is intended as a landslide mitigation measure as part of their reclamation work in that town, the DPWH was also roundly criticized for allowing the contractor to dump the rocks that were excavated from the mountain near the shoreline which hampered fisherfolk from going out to sea.
The fisherfolk accused the DPWH of failing to consult them on the impact of the reclamation project on them, a fact the agency ignored as they passed that responsibility to the Boljoon municipal government.
We hear echoes of the DPWH’s willful ignorance and disregard for communities in the Mandaue-Mactan bridge repairs. In all their meetings with the Mandaue City government and other related officials, they laid the onus of responsibility on the local officials whom they feel is most obligated to deal directly with the families.
Little wonder then why there is such a disconnect, a large, wide gap between what the national government plans for their constituents across the country and the actual needs of these constituents, particularly the poor who have little to no voice on national or local discourse, let alone policy crafting.
When Mandaue City Hall asked that DPWH extend some assistance to the soon-to-be dislocated families, the agency passed that responsibility back to them. We understand that it may be too unrealistic to expect that the DPWH, which is run by bureaucratic technocrats with zero to negative interaction with affected communities, would even bother to consider such details.
While it is not right for any family to settle near public structures or even rivers, creeks and other bodies of water that are beyond the commerce of humanity, it is also wrong for government to simply chuck them out to the wayside, giving token assistance and letting them survive on their own devices.
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