One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out how many days it would take to complete a simple road concreting. We say “simple” because the on-going city road construction, which was commenced few days before the May 13 elections, does not involve any major improvement of the drainage system. The work is as simple as first, wreck havoc on the road; second, flatten the road; and finally, pour out cement mix on the flattened road. The project also seems to be simple because its road length covers only a few hundred meters or even shorter. But not all simple stuff can be that simple. A simple thing can be transformed into a web of complications, bedlam, pandemonium, rigmarole, name it, if one hand is doing too many things all at the same time. Is this the dilemma faced by the contractor who is undertaking all the unfinished city road projects?

According to media reports, and as tackled during a couple of City Council sessions, all the on-going city road repairs, including the completed ones, are being undertaken by just one contractor. Of course, this is not a well-guarded secret among Bohol-based contractors. Also, the public has been made aware of the rather despicable set-up arranged by previous City Hall occupants. Who is going to suffer? City residents. Boholanos. Anyone who sets foot on Tagbilaran soil. The suffering is unquantifiable. A ragtag road construction has caused several accidents. In fact, our ugly roads had claimed several lives, including that of a motorcycle driver who perished in front of station DYRD last year when he fell into an asteroid-like hole. A sloppy road construction hampers economic growth. It slows down people’s business-related activities. Moreover, a chaotic road construction deprives us of travel convenience. There have been untold stories of how people got stuck in the road due to ignorance over roads being closed for alleged repairs and maintenance.

Making our road as smooth and as flawless as the skin of a dolphin is everyone’s dream. And this dream has been mutated into a host of nightmares. Why? Because we have no idea and we will never know when these road projects would ever see the final day of completion. If it were true that only one contractor (in the guise of three or five company names) who is singlehandedly fixing our road problems, inevitably, we cannot hope for an instant solution to our woes. Some say that the seemingly intentional delay of completing these projects could be an act of sabotage to undermine the administration of City Mayor Baba Yap. By delaying the road projects, people’s overdue frustration could be carried over the new administration. But we suggest that the new city mayor must use his executive power to demand for an immediate completion of these already offensive road constructions, or rescind the road contracts. What else is our option now? Watch the days go by and fantasize that one day, yes, we have dreams, that boys and girls of Tagbilaran would return to the harmless streets of the city and play “patentero?” Our people must rally behind the new city mayor in his effort to restore the lost glory of the city and demand that public funds used for these unfinished road projects would be given genuine accounting. And add, accountability.