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We want to make sure that funds of the National Government, or people's funds, got to the
right projects at the right costs, right quality and right on time delivery. Because of the
changes and the reforms in the procurement process, as of January 31st, the Department
has saved over P15B, which means the additional P15B projects that we can undertake out of
this savings.
In terms of actual surveys, the latest from SWS survery on corruption perception, is that
it used to be an average of -65 negative perception on DPWH. We've been able to significantly
improve that by two notches to minus 21. I'm not happy with that, but if you see the breakdown
of the minus 21%, at least in the National Capital Region, or the central office, where
most of the big ticket items are bidded out, it has moved from minus 71 to minus 8, so
that's a significant improvement. In other words, the minus 8 is considered in the neutral
territory, so we hope to continue improving the perception as well as the actual performance
of DPWH as far as anti corruption reforms are concerned. In terms of the bidding, we
want to make sure that our biddings are done in a very transparent and effective manner.
In terms of the quality, we want to make sure that there is check and balance in terms of
the quality of our road projects. For example, we have outsourced the quality assurance to
third party private enterprises or engineering companies to be able to check our big ticket
projects. So we've also engaged something like 47 national civil society organizations
and NGOs to help us in monitoring. So we have a 24x7 call center where people can call the
Department's call center to complain about anything that is happening nationwide. Aside
from that, we have on our website, all of the national projects, so all of the CSOs,
NGOs, can know exactly are the projects being implemented in their locality. They know exactly
what project, how much, who is the contractor, when the project is supposed to be completed.
So this is a way of making sure that the various stakeholders themselves know exactly what
the Department is doing. All of this is under the President's transparency initiative.
To also professionalize the organization, what I've done is to make sure that from top
to bottom, we walk the talk. We have implemented a promotional examination for Assistant District
Engineering all the way up. So in other words, unless you pass the promotional examination,
which is administered by the Civil Service Commission, then you cannot be promoted. This
is one way to remove patronage politicians and patronage appointments in the Department.
So we will continue to pursue aggressively professionalizing the organization. We've
also adopted a new cadetship program so that the best engineers in the country are employed
by DPWH. Our entry levels are higher than the private sector so we hope to be able to
get the best and the brightest engineers into the Department so that in the future years,
we will have new breed of engineers running the Department.
In terms of the culture, we just had to review our processes, we had to simplify and make
them more transparent and we also engage our own people exactly what do they expect from
the new leadership of the Department. So we did engage all levels, ManCom, Regional Offices,
District Offices, and that's why, that's how we came up with the right projects, rights
costs, right quality, and right on time.
In terms of the culture, the principle is simple. I have to walk the talk. I had made
sure that what I expect from our people, I should be able to do. So I work hard, I bring
home work to our house, I'm in the office by 7-7:30 in the morning--that includes Saturdays.
So I think, as I said, I have to show what public service really means. And I've given
our people, except for those notoriously corrupt, an opportunity to shape up. I have not brought
in anyone new, except my driver, and those around me for security. Other than that, I've
not brought in any new Undersecretary, or a new Assistant Secretary, they're all coming
from the ranks. We have promoted quite a number as vacancies are made available. We look for
the best people within the Department to be able to promote them. So people are now realizing
that gone are the days of patronage appointments, or patronage politics in terms of promotions.
I mentioned that we now have to make sure that the funds of the Philippine Government
puts focus on the right projects. We have made sure that we've taken out patronage,
in terms of identifying projects, so we have defined our national program for DPWH all
the way to 2016. We will be focusing on upgrading the quality and safety of our national roads
and bridges, which means we will no longer fund, from the national funds, such things
as basketball courts, multipurpose auditoriums or covered courts, or even farm-to-market
roads. These will have to come from funds, other than DPWH, because our funds will have
to focus on upgrading the quality and safety of national roads and bridges. We have a lot
of catching up to do with our other Southeast Asian neighbors. We've fallen behind in terms
of the quality of our national roads so we are bent on making sure that by 2016, all
of our national roads are properly paved withsafety devices and safety features.
By 2016, we will expect to have all of our 31,600 kilometers of national roads already
paved. We will no longer see bridges on our national roads that are still made of wood--we
will make them all permanent. In addition to that we have launched several safety measures
on our national roads like the establishment of loading and unloading bays for buses, such
as pedestrian overpasses in main thoroughfares, so that they are also safe, not only for those
on the vehicles, but on the pedestrians themselves. So aside from that, we're trying to clear
all the obstructions on our road right of way eastments. I should probably know, there
are a lot of obstructions--whether they are small shops, vulcanizing stores, illegal vendors--on
our national roads, so we're clearing them, of course with the help of the Local Government
Units.
In terms of major projects, we will be opening by May, the toll road leading to Pangasinan,
so we are opening the connection from the North Luzon Expressway, all the way to Carmen,
Pangasinan or Rosales, Pangasinan and the next stage will be from Rosales to Rosario
in La Union. We continue to develop Metro Manila so that we will have a more livable
Metro Manila. The President has already approved a three-legged skyway system within Metro
Manila--one leading to the airport, terminals I, II and III, and into the Roxas Boulevard
area. Another leg will connect the skyway all the way to the North Luzon Expressway;
and the third leg will go to Sta. Mesa and the Quezon City area. So hopefully, with this
metro skyway network, we will have a much better traffic movement within Metro Manila.
The Tarlac-La Union-Pangasinan or what we refer to as TPLEX--is an expressway being
provided, being constructed by the private sector should reduce travel time to Baguio
easily by one hour and a half, so Baguio should be accessible in four to four and a half hours--that
will significantly improve access to the north. In addition to the north, when I say north,
this would be the Ilocos region, we will also be opening up new access roads leading to
Region II, the Cagayan and Isabella provinces. So what will happen here is we're opening
up both Region I and Region II so that the agricultural production could be enhanced
in terms of the market access.