Finally, it appeared that the city council of Tagbilaran has had enough with the reclusive district engineer of the first highway engineering district.  Through a city resolution, the Sangguniang Panglungsud of Tagbilaran declared District Engineer Teodoro Castillo of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-I) as “persona non grata” for allegedly diverting road user’s money amounting to P10 million. City Councilor Doni Piquero, principal author of the resolution, said one of the glaring sins of the district engineer was his decision to summarily divert a development project courtesy of V-President Jejomar Binay to another project in Maribojoc (not Catagbacan, Loon as earlier noted).

In the language of the resolution, persona non grata, could mean “he is not welcome in the city, an expression of sentiments of the city council” chaired by Vice-Mayor Nuevas Tirol-Montes. The opposition bloc of the city council tried to block the resolution only to fail when voting time came. The opposition mustered six votes to abort the resolution but this was matched by an equal number of the administration juggernaut. To break the tie, the presiding officer, V-Mayor Montes, delivered the tie-breaker sealing Castillo’s fate as persona non grata of this city. This paper tried but failed to get the side of Engr. Castillo. He was out of the office yesterday to answer a call for his side of the story. Piquero said that the road user’s fund requested and lobbied by the vice president for Bohol was supposedly intended for the city’s road improvement by switching it to another project.

Engr. Castillo is also accused of “indiscriminate decision” in embarking a portion of J. A. Clarin street, a national highway, in this city without consultation or coordination with the city hall officials. The road improvement project has generated motorists’ criticisms, not only for inconvenience but for destroying the good condition of an road asphalt overlay now derisively tagged as “Dao Lake”. This portion of the highway was the main irritant between city hall and the DPWH. While the DPWH was all set to solve the perennial problem of a low-lying portion of the highway and therefore heavily flooded during heavy rains, city hall balked at the improvement project. According to city hall, it was not the solution to the flooding problem but the highway agency has to address the drainage concerns first and foremost. The road rehabilitation work instituted by Castillo’s office was done without the necessary drainage system which may solve the flooding problem, said Piquero.