“At best, those claims need to be verified.”
Arguably the most extravagant of the many extravagant claims made by presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte in the course of his campaign was the promise that he would make the Philippine experience a Golden Age of Infrastructure if he were to win the presidency.
Under his administration, the level of government spending on infrastructure would reach at least 5 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product) – the infrastructure-spending-to-GDP ratio considered by the World Bank to be the desideration for rapid economic development. Candidate Duterte declared that his administration would spend more on infrastructure than any of the past administrations; truly a Golden Age was what this country’s infrastructure would enter if he won the election, he promised.
President Duterte having failed to deliver on almost all of his campaign promises – elimination of the illegal drugs trade, crime and corruption within six months, a pivot away from the Philippine-American alliance, an end to the communist insurgency and a governmental-structure shift to federalism – his colleagues and supporters are claiming, now that legacy assessment time has arrived, that the nation did experience a Golden Age of Infrastructure during Mr. Duterte’s nearly six years in office and that during that period the government’s principal infrastructure agencies, DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) and DTr (Department of Transportation) have put in place for more highways, roads, bridges, airports, seaports and government buildings than the preceding administrations.
These claims need to be validated. If DPWH and DTr performance data validate the claims, well and good, and the nation has indeed been witnessing a Golden Age of Infrastructure. But failure of the two agencies’ performance data to provide validation of the claims will mean the shooting down of yet another Duterte campaign promise.
That the Duterte administration has done much for this country’s infrastructure cannot be denied; DBM (Department of Budget and Management) data on releases of funds for infrastructure projects clearly indicate a desire on the Duterte administration’s part to achieve the 5 percent infrastructure-spending-to-GDP ratio.
To speak, however, of the installation of a Golden Age of Infrastructure in this country is a bit of a stretch. It is to overstate the infrastructure accomplishment of the Duterte administration, ‘Golden Age’ is one of those conceptual phrases that should not be used lightly.
Most of the high-impact infrastructure projects completed during the last six years have consisted of highway and airport projects in the Mega Manila-Central Luzon area that either were ready for implementation in 2016 or were completed during the rest of the Duterte administration. These projects, which have enormously facilitated movement between NCR (National Capital Region), Calabarzon and Central Luzon, were undertaken and completed by the private sector and therefore cannot be counted as parts of the Duterte Administration’s Build, Build, Build program. When they drive along SCTEX, TPLEX and the Skyways, motorists think of companies like San Miguel Corporation and Metro Pacific-Citra, not of DPWH and DTr.
Build, Build, Build has done very little for this country’s railroad system and the Manila-North and Manila-South rail projects remain incomplete. During the last six years, very few additions have been made to the list of airports and seaports capable of accomodating the heightened needs of the 21st century Philippine economy.
DPWH and DTr need to program a summary of the major Build, Build, Build project they have completed or nearly completed, broken down into highways, roads, bridges, airports, seaports and government buildings. Such a summary will enable the Filipino people to decide whether they have been witnessing the dawning of a Golden Age of Infrastructure during the last six years.
My guess is that after receiving the summary the Filipino people will decide that the Golden Age of Infrastructure has come to pass.
