Akala Ko Hindi na Puede ang "Puede Na?"

In President Aquino's inauguration speech which I personally witnessed last 30 June 2010 in the Luneta, one of the more applauded portions touched on public works.

"Mula ngayon, hindi na puwede ang “puwede na” pagdating sa mga kalye, tulay at gusali dahil magiging responsibilidad ng mga kontratista ang panatilihing nasa mabuting kalagayan ang mga proyekto nila."

"From now on, mediocre work will not be good enough when it comes to roads, bridges, and buildings because we will hold contractors responsible for maintaining their projects in good condition."

I wonder if anyone in the DPWH and the Quezon City local government was listening or even understood just what the president was saying. Or maybe they've simply just refused to follow his orders.

At roughly the same time, around the last week of June 2010, just outside our village in New Manila, Quezon City, work began on a portion of Hemady Street beginning at the corner of E. Rodriguez Ave. The job entailed replacing the asphalt with concrete and as expected took a while to finish.


By the end of August, all that remained to be done was finish the gutters and cover the manholes that of course, were destroyed by the construction. But then the workers disappeared. And never came back. It's as if the contractor was saying, "hey, we were only tasked with putting concrete on the road. We are not responsible for the gutters and manholes. Puede na yan!"

And so it remains. To this day. We have a nice concrete road but gaping and dangerous holes where gutters and manholes used to be.


Ay naku. Puede ba? Hindi yan puede!