Over at his blog, Peden is accusing the Cordillera DPWH Regional Director of lying for stating last April that the Phase 1 (Mt. Data to Bontoc) of the Halsema rehabilitation project is 79.61% complete and that Phase II (Bontoc to Banaue) is 90.67% accomplished.

As someone who has traveled both roads in the past months, I agree with Peden that there is no way that both projects are complete in the percentages reported.

So either the director was lying about the figures or he has a definition of “complete” which we lay people don’t understand. If it is the former, then he has no business being in government. If it is the latter, then he should learn to use “complete” in the way that we ordinary people use and understand the word.

To refresh our memories about what was said regarding Halsema’s completion, here’s what Sunstar reported last month:

The second phase of the Halsema Highway upgrade, which starts from Mt. Data to Bontoc, is 79.61 percent accomplished based on the P340.35 million initial fund released.

Phase two, with a total cost estimated at P1.09 billion, is divided into 24 contracts. Eight projects are already complete and 16 are still ongoing.

Phase three, which starts from Bontoc to Banaue, is 90.67 percent complete based on the P118.772 million fund released. Nine out of the 12 contracts in this section are complete and three are still ongoing. The section has a total budget of P864.272 million.