Department of Public Works and Highways
Regional Office VII Cebu City
Brief Overview of the Company
As we all know, the Philippine’s Department of Public Works and Highways abbreviated as DPWH is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for all safety of projects in the field of public works. It is also responsible for the maintenance of the Philippine road network and irrigation system.
It is formed last January 30, 1897 with 206. 6 Billion pesos annual budget of this year 2014.
A Group Photo at the Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office No. VII
What happened in DPWH
Office?
Right after our visit in Makati
Development Corporation or MDC we directly went to our second destination, the
Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office VII. It was about 30
minutes ride away from MDC and situated in the South Properties of Cebu.
Our
visit in DPWH was divided into two parts, the first part is showing on how to
test a construction material that will be used in designated DPWH Projects and
as well as they are finding ways to improve those said construction materials.
The first test is the compression test for a concrete hollow blocks using their
compression machine. Second was testing a solid concrete cylinder and lastly
testing a 25mm steel bars in a very huge tension compression machine. There
testing laboratory is just like a bigger laboratory with higher and improved
apparatuses than we used to have in school. The type of test of simple and
interpreting the data is much easier than we used to in our laboratory
experiment, it is because the result of the rest can be directly achieved as
soon as the machine will release the result.
This is some apparatus and machine
used in their laboratory. The top right photo shows the parts of a reinforcing
steel parts and what should be measured before testing into a tension machine
shown in the bottom part of the photo.
The
second part is touring the current project of DPWH in Cebu City. This is the
widening road project fronting gate 3 and gate 4 of Cebu City Port. According
to a DPWH officer, the thickness of the road that they are currently constructing
is much thicker than the usual thickness of the road. This is because, the usage
of the said road is much higher than the usual road in a sense that it is
fronting two gates of Cebu port where huge tracks passes in and out of Cebu
City.
The photo above shows the two DPWH
Officers who helped us touring their current road widening project fronting
gate 3 and four of Cebu City Port. The photo also shows how thick the road they
are constructing. Lastly, the woman in the photo is one of those DPWH officer
whom I interviewed regarding the thickness of the road, how they are going to
repair it and of course regarding those uncut trees in the middle of the
widened road.
When I
asked the officer regarding the life span of that thicker road, she just told
me that when the time that they can observed that the concrete surface of the
road started to wear out they will just put asphalt to it and eventually when
the asphalt will be the one to wear out, it will be replaced again by another
asphalt and the concrete beneath it will not be damaged and does not need to be
replaced for a longer time.
Lastly,
one thing that caught my attention during the site visit was those trees right
in the middle of newly paved road. It is not actually an island or what, not
even decorations you know, so I asked the officer why it was so… and the officer
told me that because of those trees the project was delayed and served as a
hindrance to the development of the road project. She told me that the
environmentalist with the helped of the church and the Cardinal of Cebu
protested the widening of the said road because of those trees that will surely
be destroyed once they are cleaning the area. The next question I raised to her
was, what if they will just transfer those trees so it will not be damaged and
will just be transported to another place just like what SM Baguio did with
those old fine trees. Well, the officer simply answered me that it wasn’t as
easy as that especially those protesters are not just small time people and if
it was possible they already did that. So until now the remaining trees are
still there in the middle of the widened road and I wanted to ask more and dig
deeper but it wasn’t my business anyway and beside the confidentiality is too
high.
After visiting that place we went to
directly Mandaue City to visit KIMWA Construction Corporation but nevertheless
the experienced and what happened in DPWH Regional office was still a worth it
experienced and again Horizontal Construction will never be easy as some civil
engineers think of! Problems are inevitable just like those trees but as a
civil engineer we can always find ways, in fact all civil engineers are GOOD
DESTROYERS as emphasized by Sir Camillo Haos! J
Personal
Experiences, Insights and Thoughts
Actually when I was informed that our
next destination is the DPWH Regional Office VII I have never felt any
excitement at all. I was thinking like, why should we go there when we already
have a DPWH Regional office in Cagayan De Oro City in the first place. I felt
like it was really the most uninteresting place to visit but when we were there
and they showed us on how to test construction materials which then helped me
realized that I was wrong after all. It was a very informative experienced
visiting the place which I can also divide my learnings into two parts, the
first part is the part where I was able to watch an actual test for a construction
material and the second part is where I was able to visit a road construction
with a problem regarding some environmental issues.
As I
have mentioned, in the DPWH office, the officers shown as an actual test
experiment for example on using the veneer caliper, the tension and compression
test for concrete cylinder and hollow blocks and of course that tension test
for a steel bars using their very huge testing machine. What good thing about
those officers is that they patiently and explain thoroughly the process or the
step by step procedure of testing and even though our time was limited they
were able to maximize it. When it comes to orderliness of their laboratory I
can say that it wasn’t so good, apparatuses are not placed properly that it
looks incongruous. Lastly, I am hopeful that next time I will be there, just if
there will be a chance, I can performed an actual test for those materials by
my own so I can learn it thoroughly not just by showing it to us.
On the
other hand, visiting their current road widening project is a bliss. It gives us
the opportunity to have a glimpse of a road construction and encountered us
some problems that may rise during the project. Like what happened with those
trees that even a very powerful office like DPWH can’t easily cut those trees
and not even transported it to another place. It never crossed to my mind that
such problem may occur even in a road widening project of DPWH and they couldn’t
do anything to counter the petition and protest of those environmentalist and
religion thingy.
To sum up,
visiting DPWH was never a failure unlike how I was expecting it to be. Then our
journey continued in our next destination, to a well-known batching plant…
KIMWA!
This visit is part of our Plant Tour 2014. Xavier University Civil Engineering students taking up CE43: Construction Materials and Testing. Cebu City Plant Tour Journal
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