For decades, we have learned to live with this cycle – patch today, pothole tomorrow; ribbon-cut now, repair again later”
EVERY dry season in the Philippines roars with a familiar promise: road repairs.
Every rainy season comes with a familiar excuse: floods, delays, washouts.
For decades, we have learned to live with this cycle – patch today, pothole tomorrow; ribbon-cut now, repair again later.
This year, however, the conversation has changed—sharpened by reality and tightened by budget discipline.
The planned massive rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway, the continuing EDSA road reblocking, long-overdue fixes along C-5, and the completion of unfinished roads and bridges are now unfolding under a sobering constraint: the Department of Public Works and Highways’ proposed 2026 budget has been trimmed to just over ₱530 billion, down sharply from an initial ₱880 billion proposal.
For some, that cut may sound like a setback. For others, it may be exactly the reset the system needs.
At the center of this recalibration is DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon whose arrival has undeniably disrupted the comfort zones within one of government’s largest—and most scrutinized—agencies.
He is a disruptor, yes, but increasingly, he is proving to be the right kind of disruptor.
What distinguishes Dizon is that he does not view his job solely as a crusade against grafters—important as that is—but as a parallel mission to finally attend to the real, grinding work of infrastructure.
Reform without roads helps no commuter.
Enforcement without execution builds nothing. His approach recognizes that integrity and delivery must move together.
Behind this push is President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. whose marching orders have been clear: make every peso count—and make sure projects are done right.
That directive changes everything.
When budgets are bloated, inefficiency hides easily.
When funds are tight, waste has nowhere to go.
The reduced 2026 allocation forces DPWH to confront long-standing bad habits: endless variations, delayed completions, poorly designed flood control projects, and roads that fail long before their intended lifespan.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway—the country’s economic spine linking farms to markets, ports to provinces, and regions to opportunity.
Fixing it properly is no longer just a public works project; it is a test of whether government can deliver durable infrastructure under real-world constraints.
The same logic applies to EDSA and C-5.
Systematic road reblocking will continue—not because it is popular, but because it is necessary. The inconvenience is temporary; the benefit, if executed well, is generational.
Roads are not meant to be repaved every election cycle. They are meant to last.
Perhaps most telling is the renewed focus on completing roads and bridges that were started years ago but left incomplete—mute monuments to misaligned priorities.
Under a tighter budget regime, unfinished projects are no longer politically convenient leftovers; they are fiscal liabilities that must finally be resolved.
Equally urgent—and arguably most critical—is the inclusion of flood control repair before the rainy season.
Year after year, Filipinos suffer from floods worsened not by nature alone, but by failed infrastructure: silted channels, cracked dikes, and poorly executed projects that collapse under the first heavy downpour.
Fixing flood control systems may not generate applause, but it prevents grief.
The trimmed 2026 budget, paired with a more disciplined planning platform, sends a powerful signal: infrastructure spending is no longer about how much can be allocated, but how well it can be executed.
Fewer projects, done properly, will always outperform many projects done badly.
Kudos, then, are due where they are earned.
A DPWH secretary who understands that reform must be matched by real, visible, functional infrastructure—and who is willing to do both under a leaner budget—deserves a fair chance to succeed.
In a country increasingly vulnerable to climate shocks, roads and flood control systems are not luxuries.
They are defenses. They determine whether goods move, help arrives, and communities recover.
Sometimes, nation-building is not about spending more.
It is about spending right—once, well, and for the long run.
(The writer, president/chief executive officer of Media Touchstone Ventures, Inc. and president/executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc., a non-government outfit advocating tree-planting and environmental protection, is the official biographer of President Fidel V. Ramos.)
