REP. Erico Aumentado (2 nd District, Bohol) has blown the whistle to alert Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson on substandard projects implemented by that department's Region 7 office before the May 10, 2010 elections. Between crafting laws, Aumentado is innhis element doing graft-busting work that  earned for him the moniker of “Mr. Clean” as early as his first as congressman. Aumentado completed the maximum three terms – nine uninterrupted years – as congressman followed by another nine consecutive years as governor of Bohol before his current first term as solon the second time around. The solon did a Sherlock Holmes in gathering the documents to support his letter to Singson where he reported his findings, foremost of which is “the terribly substandard Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP) project on the Tagbilaran North Road (TNR) Junction Macaas (Tubigon)-Catigbian Road, Cawayanan section.

He said the 1.7-kilometer (km.) road already cost a little less than P47 million – definitely more expensive than the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project (BCRIP) Phases 1 & 2 by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. and the C.M. Pancho Construction, Inc. respectively. Depending on the terrain and limestone or hard rock base, the costing of both companies ranged only from P8 million to P12 million per km. but their outputs were of high, international standard quality The Cawayanan section, the solon said, now has several cracks and damaged concrete portions clearly indicating improper foundation and substandard mixture of aggregates, sand and cement, and lack of proper steel bar joint. This road, he lamented, is one of several substandard projects undertaken during the watch of then Region 7 Dir. Josefino Rigor. The regional office bid out and implemented the projects, reportedly cornered only by contractors who were “close to the powers-that-be.”

Aside from the Macaas-Catigbian-Balilihan-Cortes road, Aumentado enumerated the  other substandard roads, namely – those in Panglao Island, the Catigbian-Sagbayan road, the Pilar-Alicia road, Sierra Bullones-Jagna roiad and the Sagbayan-Carmen road. On asphalt overlay, he pointed out the San Jose, Talibon highway as substandard. Done over a well constructed PCCP still without cracks or even any sign of spider web cracks or protruding aggregates, it cost a whopping P10 million per km. compared to the P6.5 million per km. only of similar applications of asphalt done by the province during his incumbency as governor. He suggested that the secretary undertakes a thorough investigation with “honest-to-goodness boring tests and laboratory examinations” on projects implemented before Singson's and current DPWH-7 Director Pedro Herrera Jr.'s time. He said this would prevent the repetition of the substandard workmanship and set the pace for all to follow the righteous path of President Aquino's reforms which “we can believe in”, starting with the DPWH under Singson's leadership. Aumentado vowed his support for the secretary in ferreting out anomalous and substandard constructions not only in the 2 nd district of Bohol, but in the entire province.