The United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (UFCC) is urging legislators and President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. to scrutinize the deal between the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Bureau of Designs (DPWH-BOD) and the contractor United Technology Consolidated Partnership (UTCP) that resulted in the faulty design of the sinking Ungka flyover in Iloilo City.
In an apparent support to the indignation of residents of Iloilo City, UFCC hanged several banners in the flyover, expressing their appeal to authorities to investigate and press charges against the two agencies that put the lives of motorists and commuters at risk.
‘We are appealing to Pres. Bongbong Marcos to resolve this problem and protect the right of the motorists and commuters,’ Javella said.
UFCC earlier decried the sloppiness of DPWH and UTCP for wasting P680 million of taxpayers’ money for the faulty Ungka flyover in Iloilo City.
UFCC is a national advocacy group that pushes grassroots welfare, especially for the rights of consumers and the safety of commuters sectors.
Rudolfo Javellana Jr., president of UFCC, recently said in a manifesto they uploaded on social media that DPWH Central Offices as well as UTCP, the company they commissioned to design the Ungka flyover and conduct soil testing on the site where the flyover was constructed, should be investigated and even face charges for betraying public trust for their sloppiness that resulted in the construction of the faulty Ungka flyover.
Javellana, who is a native of Iloilo province, last week said Congress should heed the call of the people of Iloilo to look into the accountability of the DPWH Central Office for the approval of the faulty design of Ungka flyover, which is reportedly sinking.
UTCP, the geotechnical consultancy firm commissioned by the Central Office to design the flyover based on their soil testing, should be questioned by lawmakers for their faulty design, which the Central Office cascaded to the DPWH in Region 6 for implementation, said Javellana.
Javellana, agreed with Nilo Jardeleza, a respected Iloilo-based structural engineer who said that the design of the flyover was submitted by UTCP to the Bureau of Designs of DPWH Central Office. Only after all the documents and necessary inspections were made that the final design and plan for Ungka flyover were given to DPWH Region 6 for bidding, construction oversight at quality control. This is to ensure that the construction company contracted to build the project will strictly follow the design provided for by DPWH central office and UTCP.
‘Unfortunately, it is now the Regional offices and the local government authorities that are now bearing the brunt of criticism for the unsafe and defective flyover and not those who should be held accountable,’ said Javellana.
Likewise, the UFCC president is lamenting the propagation of blame directed to the local implementors of the project for it is foremost unfair and consequently shielding the real culprit to the problem.
Javellana is rallying the people of Iloilo and the whole Region 6 to be united with the truth and in unity demand fair justice and a speedy solution to the Ungka Flyover problem
