Villagers call out DPWH over substandard flood control project

Sorsogon City- Residents of Sitio Madarag, Barangay Guinlajon this city are calling on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to look into the construction of the flood mitigation project in the area.

They aired their appeal after the flood control infrastructure crumbled for the second time after it was constructed barely two years ago which endangered their properties and livelihood along the Madarag River.

According to “Sonny”, a resident in the area who requested not to be identified in his real name, a huge portion of the infrastructure was first destroyed during the onslaught of typhoon “Opong” in September this year and was repaired right after.

However, when typhoon “Uwan” grazed Bicol last week, a part of the recently repaired portion again collapsed, exposing further the substandard quality of the infrastructure.

Another resident, “Alvin”, who claimed to be a former construction foreman, bared his observation that only a small part of the infrastructure was installed with sheet piles which were too short. He added that the contractor also utilized the aggregates found in the river instead of using the prescribed aggregates which are the black sand and gravel sourced from Albay province.

He said that he notified the foreman of the violations in the construction process but he was ignored as he was told that they were just following instruction from the contractor.

Based on the registry of the DPWH, there is a record for the “Construction of Flood Mitigation Structure of Madarag River, Sorsogon City” worth P35.6 million under Cluster XVI with Project ID No. 22FK0041 contracted to Muntopar Builders Corp. The project was commenced on March 11, 2022 and would have been completed on November 26, 2022.

The budget for the project was sourced under Regular Infrastructure under the 2022 General Appropriations Act.

But while the project was contracted to Muntopar, the residents said that the project was carried out by people identified with SR Baldon Construction with some of them saying that a son of City Councilor Nestor Baldon was the one who supervised the repair of the project when it was first devastated by “Opong”.

Both Muntopar Builders and Baldon Construction have yet to respond to Bicol File’s request for comments or reactions as of press time. Bicol Files Report