Politics, absence of TWG delay Samar’s PAMANA projects

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 5  -- The implementation of the PHP304-million Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) infrastructure projects has been moving slowly in Eastern Samar, an official admitted Thursday.

Politics and the absence of a technical working group have been tagged as major setbacks in ensuring the timely completion of projects.

“The technical working group in Eastern Samar is not functional. This is the mechanism of PAMANA in fast-tracking the process of doing projects,” said PAMANA-Samar area manager Imelda Bonifacio.

The group is composed of officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), local government officials, and PAMANA staff.

PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn or PAMANA is the national government’s convergence program that extends development interventions to isolated, hard-to-reach and conflict-affected communities, ensuring that they are not left behind.

Among the major ongoing projects in Eastern Samar are the Jipapad-Arteche Road and the Can-avid-Maslog road.

Another concern is the so-called tug-of-war between local government officials in the projects’ areas, Bonifacio said.

In the case of Maslog, Mayor Heraclio Santiago said in an interview Thursday that he opposed the plan to start the project in Dolores or Can-avid because they are not the target areas of the project.

“This makes Can-avid and Dolores look like they are PAMANA communities. We have to agree that while they are doing the road in Can-avid and Dolores, work should also start in our town,” Santiago explained.

The PHP234-million road project leading to the remote town of Maslog began in 2012 and is still ongoing. According to reports sent by the DPWH to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, most of the road sections have already been completed.

 The Jipapad-Arteche Road is already complete but is not yet fully passable since the construction of a PHP70-million bridge in Jipapad has yet to start.

 To fast-track PAMANA projects, Bonifacio suggested the creation of a joint-monitoring team, just like what the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) did in carrying out their PAMANA projects. (RTA/PNA)