ILOILO City – This 2023 was a year of challenges, triumphs and of course, hope, for Western Visayas.
Here’s a roundup of some of the top newsmakers in the region for this year that we hope we could find the lessons from which to build a better 2024.
Ungka Flyover
Of all the many newsmakers for the year 2023 in the region, the controversial Ungka flyover in Barangay Ungka II, Pavia, Iloilo took the spotlight the most.
The P680-million defective flyover stirred the first month of the year after an Ilonggo structural engineer warned of an “impending disaster” if it is not repaired.
Engineer Nilo Jardeleza said there’s a disaster waiting to happen, citing the busy road beneath the flyover and the nearby gasoline stations.
One busy Monday morning, Feb. 6, the Ungka area transformed into a scene straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie – people getting down from stranded vehicles, walking long stretches of the highway and scaling the nearly half a kilometer long Ungka flyover. All to get out of the nearly-three hour long traffic jam.
The culprit of the seemingly dystopian setting was the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) unannounced closure of a road being widened in the area.
In May this year, the third-party consulting firm Abinales Associates Engineers + Consultants tapped by DPWH to do a geotechnical investigation on the structure recommended repairing the vertical displacement at piers 4, 5 and 6 of the flyover. At least P250 million is needed.
On Sept. 22, the two inner lanes of the four-lane flyover were reopened. To further alleviate heavy traffic congestion this holiday season, the DPWH Region 6 extended the operating hours of the flyover: from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The flyover’s rectification, meanwhile, would start on the first week of January 2024. The first tranche of the rectification budget is P100 million. It would cover the jet grouting of the flyover’s 13 piers.
DPWH-6 aims to complete the rectification by July 2024 and fully reopen the flyover by the first week of August 2024, weather permitting.
Traditional Jeepney Phaseout
The impending phaseout of traditional public utility jeepneys (PUJs) had hit hard many PUJ operators and drivers in Western Visayas.
The deadline on the consolidation of traditional PUJs is on Sunday, Dec. 31, under the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP).
Data from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region 6 as of Dec. 27, 2023, showed that of 8,534 total traditional jeepneys in the region, 5,596 units, or 66 percent, are already consolidated. Only 2,938 units, or 34 percent, are still unconsolidated.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) – Office of Transportation Cooperatives, meanwhile, said that operators and drivers of non-consolidated PUJs will be given due process and will still be allowed to operate until January 2024.
The process will take the entire month of January, but the DOTr stressed that consolidation is still mandated.
2023 BSKE
From its original schedule on Dec. 5, 2022, the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) was finally held on Oct. 30, 2023.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Region 6 registered a higher voter turnout during the Oct. 30 BSKE in Western Visayas.
Of the 6.9 million voters, 76.32 percent or 5,266,080 trooped to polling centers across the region to cast their votes, said Comelec-6 director Atty. Dennis Ausan.
The synchronized elections were also peaceful – from the distribution of election paraphernalia to the start of voting until its closing.
There have been no grave election-related incidents in six provinces and two highly urbanized cities in the region.
Molo Fire
A massive fire ravaged Zone 3, Barangay Salvacion Habog-Habog in Molo, Iloilo in the early hours of Dec. 16, resulting in three fatalities and an estimated P6.6 million in property damage.
This incident is deemed the largest residential fire in Western Visayas this year.
The blaze destroyed 70 structures, including 68 houses, a daycare center, and a barangay hall, affecting 84 families or 273 individuals.
It has also taken a disturbing turn as evidence suggested that the three victims found dead may have been murdered before the fire broke out.
Fire Chief Superintendent Jerry Candido, regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection Region 6, said their investigation revealed there were at least four points of fire origin, indicating arson.
Biggest Drug Haul
Suspected shabu worth P40,800,000 was seized during a buy-bust operation in Sitio Siga2, Barangay Don T. Lutero East in Janiuay, Iloilo on Dec. 17.
This is the biggest single-operation confiscation of illegal drugs in the region to date by the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 6 (RPDEU-6).
Suspect Miklyn Acosta, tagged by police as a drug courier, was collared while her companion, a certain “Koikoi,” was able to flee.
According to Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) director Brigadier General Sidney Villaflor, the approximately six kilograms of shabu was intended for distribution this Christmas season and Dinagyang Festival next month.
For his part, Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said the illegal drug situation in the province is alarming, noting that drug personalities persist and confiscations involve large volumes worth millions of pesos.
Hamtic Bus Accident
A tragic vehicular accident shook Antique province and the entire Western Visayas on Dec. 5.
A 30-meter-deep plunge killed 19 bus passengers, including the driver, conductor and inspector of a Ceres bus. The bus overshot the road dubbed by locals as the “killer curve” in Barangay Igcabugay, Hamtic town.
DPWH-6 is considering the construction of a road tunnel in the mountainous Barangay Igbucagay to replace the notorious “killer curve”, a section of a mountainside highway where numerous vehicular accidents resulting in deaths and injuries have taken place.
‘Chop-chop’ Murder
Iloilo City woke up to a horrifying morning on Nov. 6 following the discovery of mutilated human body parts in two separate locations, believed to be the result of a summary execution.
Two severed arms were discovered inside a sack of animal feed in Barangay Ticud, La Paz district.
A man’s decapitated and armless torso was later found near the river in Barangay Buhang, Jaro district.
On Nov. 7, a mutilated head was discovered inside a plastic bag in Barangay Quezon, Arevalo district. Attached to the plastic bag was a cardboard sign with the words: “Babala sa mga adik. Ibalik ang kamay na bakal. PDU30.”
Police identified the victim as Kristopher Cabalquinto.
Despite this, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) assured that the public has nothing to fear, as the city remains peaceful and orderly.
ICPO director Colonel Joeresty Coronica emphasized that the death of Cabalquinto, a suspected drug personality, was an isolated case./PN
