Camarines Sur (CamSur) Governor LRay Villafuerte has thanked President Marcos and Secretary Vivencio Dizon of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for their “quick action” on their commitment to accelerate and expand the sure-enough rehabilitation of the dilapidated Andaya Highway, which is the almost 93-kilometer (km) stretch of the Pan-Philippine Highway or Maharlika Highway that passes through CamSur.
With the genuine and fast-track work on the Andaya Highway, which is the most ramshackle part of the 3,379-km Maharlika Highway that runs from Cagayan to Zamboanga City and Jolo, Villafuerte expressed optimism that the commitment of both the President and the DPWH chief to complete this infrastructure task in due time is “on track.”
Villafuerte and CamSur Rep. Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, who represents the province’s first district where the Andaya Highway passes, accompanied Dizon during his inspection trip last March 16 to check on the progress of the work, and both were hopeful that the ongoing work would provide partial relief to motorists and commuters in time for this year’s Holy Week.
In an interview after the inspection, Dizon said: “Ito tatagal na ito, ito tatagal ito, kitang-kita mo pa lang tatagal ito. Hindi ito patchi-patchi na lang. So tatagal ito.
The Quirino Highway was expanded in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, and in 2004, its CamSur portion was renamed Rolando Andaya Highway by virtue of Republic Act (RA) No. 9234, in honor of the  late congressman Rolando Andaya Sr
Dizon earlier traced the increasingly dilapidated condition of the Andaya Highway to the piecemeal work done on this major road.
“Ang problema marami pa tayong kailangang gawin pero ang importante muna holy week kahit papano naman ‘yung biyahe naman ng mga kababayan natin hindi naman sila masyadong mahirapan. Kasi ang problema dito kapag one way ‘yan, pag Holy Week sa dami ng dadaan dito tutukod na ‘yan. ‘Yung trapik nito aabutin na ng ilang kilometro ‘yan, kawawa naman ‘yung mga kababayan natin na dumadaan,” Dizon said.
“And remember hindi lang taga Bicol ang dumadaan dito lahat papuntang Visayas, papuntang Mindanao, mga galing Visayas/Mindanao papunta ng Luzon, lahat ‘yan dito dumadaan. So at least yung Holy Week timeline natin mukhang mabibigay naman natin sa mga kababayan natin,” Dizon added.
“After Holy Week, ayun na talagang magkakaroon na ng malawakang construction dito,” he added.
Asked to comment on Dizon’s remarks, Villafuerte said: “Well, pasalamat tayo kay Pangulong Bong-Bong, kay Sec. Vince na finally maganda ang aksyon, mabilis, hindi na patchi-patchi, solid ang pagkagawa pang matagalan. Pasalamat tayo kay Pangulong BBM, kay Secretary Vince for quick action. Pag nagkakaisa walang problema na hindi kaya.”
In a separate report, the DPWH announced that starting on March 23, motorists can use the Andaya Highway following the completion of initial repairs on a key road segment, which is the Sipocot section.
Dizon cited the DPWH’s on-time completion of the repairs, noting that, “At least we kept our Holy Week timeline to finish the repairs.”
In February, Villafuerte welcomed a congressional investigation into the “chronic deterioration, alleged defective structural design, repeated ‘piecemeal’ rehabilitation and possible irregularities” in the funding and maintenance of the Andaya Highway.
Villafuerte said, “A full-blown House inquiry is in order so we can finally know who had dropped the ball on this one, who should be held accountable, and how do we make sure that this rehab screw up never happens again in the Andaya highway or in any other road or bridge infra projects of the DPWH.”
“With its defective structural design exacerbated by the piecemeal rehabilitation work made on this major road through the decades, the Andaya Highway has sadly fallen to its current infuriating state of severe disrepair, and it’s about time that our lawmakers investigate why the DPWH, for all the resources and expertise at its disposal, has allowed this to happen,” he added.
“This seemingly benign neglect of the Andaya Highway in the past is another indictment of the level of massive fraud and inefficiency at the DPWH,” Villafuerte said.
The Andaya Highway cuts through the municipality of Santa Elena in Camarines Norte; the municipalities of Sipocot, Lupi, Ragay and Del Gallego in CamSur; and the municipalities of Tagkawayan, Guinayangan, and Calauag in
“In fairness to President Marcos, he has taken initial steps to correct this Andaya Highway problem ever since he assumed office in 2022,” he added. “We are hopeful that with action man Sec. Vince now at the helm of the DPWH, the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Andaya Highway, as envisioned by the President, will now proceed at a fast pace.”
In House Resolution (HR) No. 740, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon wants the House committee on public accounts along with the other pertinent committees to likewise examine relevant findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the road and bridge infrastructure projects of the DPWH for the purpose of “determining accountability, preventing wastage of public funds and improving project quality, oversight and transparency.”
In his resolution, Ridon said that, “Allegations were raised that repeated reblocking projects and fragmented budgeting over many years may have enabled waste, inefficiency, or corruption, underscoring the need to examine whether funds were programmed and released consistent with sound planning and whether projects delivered durable outputs consistent with contract specifications.”
Ridon noted that in its recent report on the DPWH, the COA has “publicly flagged recurring issues relevant to road infrastructure implementation-such as inadequate planning, detailed engineering, supervision, and monitoring that contributed to delayed and inefficient project implementation-demonstrating a broader oversight concern that warrants legislative inquiry, particularly where communities suffer from repeatedly failing roads and bridges.”
Ridon pointed out in his resolution that during an inspection by Dizon, “the DPWH had attributed the highway’s recurring failures to a design issue that allows water to seep underneath the road structure, indicating potential deficiencies in design standards, drainage engineering, materials specifications, or quality assurance/quality control.”
A national primary highway spanning 92.65 km connecting Santa Elena in the first district of Camarines Norte through Quezon province to Sipocot in the first district of CamSur, this major road was named Quirino Highway-as National Route N68 in the country’s highway network-when it was first built in the 1950s during the Elpidio Quirino presidency as an alternative route to the Pan-Philippine Highway that connects the islands of Luzon, Eastern Visayas and Mindanao.
The Andaya Highway cuts through the municipality of Santa Elena in Camarines Norte; the municipalities of Sipocot, Lupi, Ragay and Del Gallego in CamSur; and the municipalities of Tagkawayan, Guinayangan, and Calauag in Quezon.
The Quirino Highway was expanded in the 1970s and again in the 1990s, and in 2004, its CamSur portion was renamed Rolando Andaya Highway by virtue of Republic Act (RA) No. 9234, in honor of the late congressman Rolando Andaya Sr.
