IT’S up to Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to decide when to inaugurate and open the new Dawel-Pantal-Lucao Road, including its bridge component in the middle.

Fourth District Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr., patron of the new highway, made this statement even as he stressed that it is now only a matter of time before the project is finally opened to vehicular trafic.

Arriving in Dagupan on Wednesday, De Venecia said he was informed that the project is now 99.9% complete with the contractors doing only the finishing touches.

De Venecia, however, is still uncertain if he would be invited to the inauguration of the project that he believes will be attended by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“I will go if invited,” De Venecia said chuckling when asked if he will attend the inauguration where he will come face to face with the President.

De Venecia and Arroyo were once close political allies but their relationship soured and turned bitter when the former Speaker’s son and namesake, Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, implicated First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the aborted NBN-ZTE deal, which eventually led to his ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

De Venecia blamed Arroyo for his ouster as House Speaker and later as president of the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats, the country’s largest political party.

He said protocol dictates that it should be the President who should inaugurate the P1.3 billion project which he describes as one of the most beautiful highways built in the country by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Although the bridge component that spans across the Pantal River was financed through a soft loan of P970 million released by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, it was De Venecia’s Priority Development Fund that was used to build the Dawel-Pantal and the Babaliwan (Poblacion Oeste)-Lucao roads.

Second District Highway Engineer Rodolfo Dion affirmed the solon’s view that the opening of the new road is up to the DPWH central office.

Dion said the contractors are awaiting the go-signal of the DPWH central office to finally remove the barriers now blocking access to the newly-built highway.

Last Saturday, Dion confirmed that except for the beautification on its approaches, the road component is already finished, and that lights on the bridge are already being installed.

The Japanese government, through the Toyo Construction of Japan, built the bridge with integrity, De Venecia stressed, saying, “Walang kalokohan”.

He said he accumulated his pork barrel funds for several years to finance the road component of the project that was built over swamps and rivers in the outskirts of Dagupan City.

De Venecia also bankrolled the construction of the Judge Jose R. de Venecia Highway, connecting Calasiao and Dagupan City bypassing the city’s commercial district, during his first term as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The bypass highway was named after De Venecia’s late father, a retired Court of First Instance judge.—LM

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