Scienceless engineering

Herbie  Gomez 

IT’S time for all those involved in land development, especially those in government, to incorporate Earth science in their plans. Last Monday’s nuisance floods in the city and many other places in Mindanao highlighted the lack if not, the absence geoscience in our engineering. That’s how engineering should be in the first place: apply scientific knowledge to practical problems.

I am not sure about the extent of the participation of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in the implementation of infrastructure projects and in urban development. I will not be surprised if their involvement is zero. If ever they are involved, perhaps it is time to give them more responsibility and powers. Infrastructure development–and that means every infrastructure project–should have their imprimatur. That makes sense.

As it is now, we have not been giving MGB and Pagasa the respect that they deserve. If we did, they would be directly under the Office of the President and not under some parent agency–the Department Enviroment and Natural Resources (DENR) for MGB, and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the case of Pagasa.

Consider that bridge across Bitan-ag Creek on CM Recto Ave.. Where is science in that project? No, make that Where is common sense in that project? Just as everyone with normal IQ has anticipated, all that project has accomplished last Monday was keep a few square meters of that problematic area on CM Recto Ave. drier. A lot of people saw that last year, the moment it became clear that the project was basically meant to just lift that teeny-weeny section of CM Recto a little higher. While it wasn’t inundated last week, it was surrounded by muddy waters that made the roads leading to it, on both sides, impassable. That’s it? We, the taxpayers, paid a whopping P60 million, more or less, so that this bridge would not be flooded?

I don’t know if they realized that it’s an insult to the stateun University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTSP) that hundreds of its students had to spend the night in the school because of poor science and bad engineering just outside the campus. Does it mean that the brains of the engineers of that state university haven’t figured that out? Or maybe they were just untapped.

The waste of taxpayers’ money may have been prevented had science people, not just civil engineers, been involved in the planning of that bridge project. The MGB would know the terrain, including the creek there and about how man may have seriously altered its natural flow. Or if it was just going to be a total waste of time, energy and public funds, MGB would have sounded off during the planning stage, and then recommended something better or another project that that will work.

(By the way, somebody should do some serious work and look into the real state of the Bitan-ag Creek. It’s one of nature’s creations that may not be wise for man to tamper with.)

Pagasa would know the effects of a concoction of weather systems and conditions. In trying to understand the weather and last Monday’s floods, we all turned to Pagasa. But that was after the calamity… after the damage was done. But how exactly was Pagasa involved in the planning of that bridge project? If minds in the Pagasa were only tapped, they could have provided inputs on the effects of the combination of a low-pressure system, tail-end of a cold front and a high tide which was exactly the case last Monday.

Point is, inputs and data from MGB and Pagasa would prove to be very useful in infrastructure and urban development. Their data would enable engineers to analyze and determine the kind of project fit for certain areas. MGB and Pagasa are just around. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and local governments should use them before and whenever they implement infrastructure projects.

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The DPWH may want to check out the bridge on the diversion road across the Iponan River. The cracks are unusual.

They may also want to do something about the “island” in the middle of the bridge on the other side. The reflectors, which keep on disappearing, are simply not enough. It doesn’t require genius to know something is terribly wrong with it. Pastilan.