NEWSFLASH

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SUBSTANDARD ILOILO ROADS BLAMED ON CONTRACTOR

Iloilo City, Oct. 5, 1997 - Congressman Raul Gonzalez is blaming contractors for defective and substandard asphalt overlays of seven Iloilo road projects. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has condemned the roads and ordered that they be redone.

DPWH Undersecretary Teodoro Encarnacion said his investigation team found deficiencies in thickness and cement mix. Other roads similarly funded by Gonzalez' Countryside Development Fund (CDF) were found deteriorating and full of cracks.

Encarnacion said the removal and replacement of the asphalt overlay should be made at the expense of the contractor- International Builders Corp.

Iloilo City Councilor Perla Zulueta said the findings of anomaly and irregularity in the projects "confirm what the people knew all along, and what the people suspect all the time: that every infrastructure project of the government is tainted with graft and corruption."

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