TIAONG, Quezon—President Aquino vowed that a big-ticket toll-road project, promised and approved under former Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Fidel V. Ramos, will now take off under his administration and completed by 2019.
Speaking on Monday during a briefing on the South Luzon Expressway (Slex) Toll Road 4 project that will extend from Santo Tomas, Batangas, to Lucena City in Quezon province, Mr. Aquino claimed that the P13.8-billion project is set to start construction under his administration, and will cut travel time from Santo Tomas to Lucena from four hours to one hour.
“Alam n’yo po kasi ipinangako ito noong panahon pa ni Ginoong Marcos, noong ako’y katatapos lang ng grade school, at kung titingnan n’yo ang batas na ginawa ni Marcos ay itinayo ang Nlex [North Luzon Expressway] ng gobyerno sa panga-ngasiwa ng CDCP [Construction Development Corp. of the Philippines] at pahahabain ang kalsada sa Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan, hanggang Lucena sa Quezon. Pero hanggang ngayon ay wala pa at ito’y ipinangako ni Marcos, at inaprubahan pa ni Fidel Ramos, at ngayon sa panahon ng aking panunungkulan sa wakas ay masisimulan na,” President Aquino said mostly in Filipino to a hastily assembled audience in Barangay Lalig here of yellow-shirted constituents, mostly coming from the province’s Second District under Rep. Vicente “Kulit” Alcala, who, together with Mayor Ramon Preza, led in welcoming the President and his Cabinet secretaries, who included Secretary Rogelio L. Singson of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the congressman’s brother, Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, along with Edmund Reyes, executive director of Toll Regulatory Board; and Ramon Ang, president and COO of San Miguel Corp. and chairman of the Slex, among others.
Also present were Quezon Gov. David “Jayjay” Suarez; and Reps. Mark Enverga of the First District Aleta Suarez of the Third District and Angelina “Helen” Tan of the Fourth District; and various municipal mayors, including Lucena Mayor Roderick Alcala, Ferdinand Maliwanag of Candelaria, Rosauro Masilang of Sariaya and Joselito “Tito” Ojeda of Mulanay, who all expressed gratitude to President Aquino for the realization of the project in Quezon.
The President said the four-way lane toll-road project stretches more than 58 kilometers from Santo Tomas to Lucena, and is part of the high-standard highway network that will reach up to the Bicol region.
He cited the increase of the infrastructure budget from P165 billion in 2010, which tripled to P562.3 billion this year, and P787.19 billion next year under the “reformist” head of the DPWH. Singson has been hailed by many for changing the image of the DPWH from “a corrupt and milking cow” agency in the past into a transparent agency that delivers quality projects on time.
The tollway project will cover Batangas, Laguna and Quezon provinces, and have five sections: Section 1 is from Santo Tomas, Batangas, to Macban in Laguna (10.5 km); Section 2 is from Macban to San Pablo, Laguna (12.2 km); Section 3 is from San Pablo to Tiaong (8.1 km); Section 4 is from Tiaong to Candelaria (14.4 km); and Section 5 is from Candelaria to Lucena (12.3 km).
Reyes said that the proposed bills of former Rep. Danilo Suarez of the Third District and his wife, Aleta, in Congress aim to extend the tollway project to the Third and Fourth districts.
The expressway project is a co-venture undertaking by San Miguel Corp. and Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., and is designed to provide a modern alternative to the existing Maharlika Highway.
Singson said that the road-project allocations in Quezon province increased from P3.2 billion last year to P3.9 billion this year, which included the bypass road project in Sariaya; concreting of asphalt roads from Lopez to San Francisco; and rehabilitation of the national highway passing through Tiaong, Lucena, and Pagbilao in Quezon, up to Santa Elena in Camarines Sur.