Senator Grace Poe wants the allocation of funds for the construction of elevated walkways and foot paths under the proposed 2021 budget.
Poe, chairperson of the Senate public services committee, questioned the absence of a budget for pedestrian infrastructure in the government's spending plan for next year.
"Not a single centavo in the proposed P1.10-trillion infrastructure outlays for next year will be allocated for a walkway," Poe said in a statement on Thursday.
"DOTr na mismo ang nagsabi na madali lang itayo ang mga elevated walkway (The Department of Transportation itself said that elevated walkways are easy to build). Pero hindi naman pinopondohan (But these are not being funded)," she lamented.
Poe recalled the August 2019 hearing of the public services panel wherein DOTr Undersecretary Mark de Leon told senators that elevated walkways are non-complicated structures and can be completed "in less than two years."
She also noted that the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board has already approved in January this year the P8.51-billion EDSA Greenways project which aims to improve pedestrian facilities around key rail stations along EDSA.
The NEDA had said this was part of the government's priority projects under the National Transport Policy.
"According to a study by the Asian Development Bank, nearly 35 percent of destinations are within a 15-minute walk. But because we don't have decent footpaths, Filipinos are forced to drive their cars or commute," Poe pointed out.
Senators have been pushing for the inclusion of elevated walkways in the government infrastructure plans to help address the traffic problem in Metro Manila and provide interconnectivity for commuters.
For her part, Poe filed last year her Senate Bill No. 930 or the proposed Sustainable Elevated Walkways Act. The measure proposes the establishment of the said infrastructure along major roads in all high-density urban areas of the country.
"The road to commuter welfare may be paved with good intentions but we want to see our commuters accorded the priority they deserve by giving them a slice of the infrastructure budget," she said.