General Santos City-Hier in this city, in which floods are quite rare compared to Metro Manil, Cotabato and other maguindanao locations, the problem is not the presence or lack of anomal flood protection projects. There is a city -wide turmoil through a huge infrastructure project that instead caused floods on a main street in the city, which caused a massive traffic light on every busy weekday.
In a statement published by the Filipino Anti-corruption Czar (PACC), the General Santos City Underpass project or the Mabuhay Underpass project is considered the “memorial of bad planning”. Since its start, the project has led to floods along the highway and has enlarged an already growing transport net block here. It also closed several business companies on the Mabuhay Bulaong and Digos-Makar Junction of the National Highway, as customers can no longer drive to these facilities or park their vehicles there.
This infrastructure project, introduced on June 23, 2022, was completed by September 2024. At the moment it looks like the project has just started. Several residents who were asked during a recording of a popular nationally broadcast television show indicated that the project had become a eyesore – it shows several incorrectly oriented structures, security gaps and extended periods in which there were no workers on site and some devices and materials such as iron sticks that were just stacked on the project location.
In his report dated August 26, 2025, Dr. Louie Ceniza, Chairman of PACC, said that the Ministry of Public Works and Automen (DPWH) has to explain why this project stalled. He said: “The people in General Santos earn answers and results, no excuses. This is more than just a delayed project – it has become an economic and social disaster. Companies have closed, the streets are flooded, traffic is unbearable and trust has been revealed.”
The PACC also questioned how project funds were paid out and asked the DPWH and the contractor of the project to explain the malfunctions that have caused more harm to the residents of the city of Santos City.
Every time it rains heavily in the city, this part of the highway is flooded, which creates a swimming pool handle pond that makes it difficult for drivers to strengthen an already problematic traffic problem in this rapidly growing city.
I pass this part of the highway almost every day and always work on a hard drive. Our driver has to find paths to get through parts of the street that have been destroyed since the construction of this project.
This project was implemented without the broad consultation of the city dwellers. There was also no announcement on the detour of the traffic to facilitate the emergency of commuters and drivers. I also noticed that a lack of anticipated thinking of who was designed this project, since the excavations of the area can damage some underground water pipes that are part of the city's waterworks system, as well as buried electrical pipes from the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative. Even without rain, floods occur in this part of the highway and remains left for some time, which leads to real inconvenience, especially for two -wheel vehicles and occasional tricycles that manage to reach the route.
When the project was expected to be complete, a huge stack of cut iron bars inside the site was stacked and some concrete blocks were also torn down. I asked why this was done and whether it was the result of some errors in the design and execution of the project plan. It was true that a former student who is an engineer told me that the contractor found that the original design gave a serious mistake, so that the iron bars had to be cut and the concrete blocks had to be removed. I asked: What will happen to the iron sticks? With the high costs for metal poles, the huge stack of iron bars would certainly achieve a strong sum due to an “error”.
In addition, the cut steel or iron bars also provided drivers and pedestrians. Cut metal pieces from different parts of the unfinished structure.
But I was surprised that the iron sticks and cement blocks soon disappeared and nobody wanted to talk about it. Some people must have managed to benefit from this blatant construction “errors”.
There is now a national outcry to examine incorrect anti-flood control projects. But here in my city we complain because a huge state infrastructure project instead caused floods, even if there is no rain.
I wonder whose bags are flooded with money from this flood -causing infrastructure project.
—————–
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription was successful.
Comments on [email protected]