Bishop decries ‘poor condition’ of highway linking Quezon, Bicol
LUCENA CITY—Through an open letter, Bishop Eugenius Cañete of the Diocese of Gumaca in Quezon province has slammed the government over the “poor condition” of Maharlika Highway, calling it the “worst highway” in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region.
“Every day, complaints—accompanied by photos and videos of damaged roads, heavy traffic, spoiled goods and accidents—go viral on Facebook,” Cañete said in an open letter written in Filipino and posted on the diocese’s Facebook page.
He lamented that responses to these complaints had been merely “temporary fixes.”
“Potholes are covered with soil. Asphalt is laid over broken concrete. Occasionally, concrete is dug up, but before the entire project is completed, cracks already appear in the earlier sections. These are short-term, piecemeal solutions, but no long-term repairs are being made,” Cañete said.
Rodel Florido, district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Quezon’s fourth district, acknowledged the bishop’s concerns but disputed parts of the letter claiming that the agency lacked the budget, responsibility or capacity to maintain and repair the highway.
“Those statements are not true,” he said in a telephone interview on Monday.
Florido said the bishop’s letter might have “misquoted” or taken his previous statements out of context.
He clarified that while the DPWH had maintenance funds, these were insufficient to repair all the damaged sections of the highway linking Quezon to the Bicol region.
“We are doing our best to fix the roads with the available funds, but they are simply not enough,” Florido said, without specifying the exact budget allocation for road repairs.
‘Lubak capital’
He said his office had requested additional funds for maintenance work for 2025.
Florido’s office oversees a 90-kilometer stretch of Maharlika Highway from Atimonan town to Calauag town, part of the highway’s 150-km section in Quezon running from Tiaong town on the Quezon-Laguna boundary to Calauag on the Quezon-Bicol border.
Quezon Gov. Angelina Tan echoed Bishop Cañete’s concerns, describing the highway’s condition as “heavily damaged.”
“Quezon province is now being called the ‘lubak capital’ (pothole capital) of the Philippines,” Tan said in a Jan. 30 radio interview.
She estimates that about 70 percent of Maharlika Highway in the district was in dire need of repair.
While acknowledging the DPWH’s budget constraints, Tan said she had already raised the issue with the DPWH secretary.
The DPWH regional office in Calabarzon attributed the worsening condition of this stretch of Maharlika Highway to heavy rainfall in Quezon since November last year.
