TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Some people here are outraged by the recent crumbling of a 50-meter portion of a protection wall which forms part of a P100 M rehabilitation work on the main canal of the Upper Chico River Irrigation (UCRIS) saying it only demonstrates the utterly dismal project implementation performance of the agency.
They are appalled that while the structure which was torn from the rest of the wall fell only on its side, it crumbled “like popcorn.”
Rev. Luis Aoas, a member of the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA), one of two organizations which filed a complaint with the Commission on Audit over the P425M-worth rehabilitation work on the UCRIS and the repair of the washout, said that if the mixture of the concrete was standard, the fallen structure would have been in one piece and would not have broken into pieces.
He also said that the concrete could be pulverized with just one’s fingers.
“The crumbling of the wall belies the claims of the NIA (National Irrigation Administration) that its projects are undertaken according to specifications and prescribed construction procedures. What we see here is the exact opposite,” Aoas said.
Adolph Bravo, president of the Matagotago Takon Losan Irrigators’ Association, said that just like the main canal structure which earlier sagged for almost 0.60 meters and delayed the planting season for six weeks, poor workmanship and negligence are the main cause of the collapse of the retaining wall at the base of the slope it was supposed to protect.
“It is evident to the naked eye that materials used were undersupplied and deficient the way it collapsed and crumbled like popcorn. There was design flaw i.e. provision of weep holes and monitoring. Materials Quality Control was absent or else the deficiencies could have been corrected during the implementation of the project. There was sheer negligence on the part of the project implementing agency,” Bravo said.
“In the first place, the slope protection was totally unnecessary since the slope existed for 35 years and withstood the elements,” he added and went on to say that the dry stone walls (traditional tuping) are even better than the one that collapsed.
Bravo said that what happened to the implementation of the main UCRIS project and the washout repair are not isolated cases but did not elaborate.
Farmer Benedicto Sugguiyao said the retaining wall collapsed due to construction flaw and material deficiency.
“What is funny is that the retaining wall collapsed and the slope it was supposed to hold didn’t. This further reveals the construction scam of NIA that has been the bane of farmers for the last two years,” Sugguiyao said.
UCRIS farmers failed to plant incurring more or less P1B in unrealized harvest during the second cropping of 2015 because from September to December, the 260 portion of the canal which was washed out during typhoon Ineng due to the inability of the Markbilt Construction/RD Policarpio and Co. Inc. to install the radial gates on time had to be repaired.
Under the work schedule, the radial gates should have been installed in June 2014.
According to Tabuk City Agriculturist Julibert Aquino, 70 percent of crops in Tabuk City would have been harvested ahead of typhoon Lawin had not the UCRIS been put out of operation for six weeks in June and July to give way to the repair of the leak in the newly repaired washout section.
The ASC Construction which undertook the repair of the washout could not be reached for comment while Kalinga NIA Chief Benito Espique would not answer text messages.**Estanislao Albano, Jr.
