ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider World Bank sees progress in delayed $300-million Metro Manila 'Big One' resilience project

World Bank sees progress in delayed $300-million Metro Manila 'Big One' resilience project

Published Jul 13, 2026 12:00 am  |  Updated Jul 12, 2026 04:31 am

The World Bank has seen “tangible progress” in a delayed $300-million project aimed at protecting Metro Manila from “The Big One” earthquake, with contracts finally awarded to retrofit school buildings after years of implementation setbacks.

In a July 10 implementation status and results report, the Washington-based multilateral lender said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-implemented Philippines Seismic Risk Reduction and Resilience Project “achieved some critical milestones” during the past six months, although further acceleration and another loan extension would still be needed.

“The civil works contracts for the retrofitting of 67 school buildings were awarded in May. Design review and approval procedures have been accelerated,” the World Bank said.

“The project will still require an additional extension to be able to complete all the planned activities, which is currently under the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) review,” the report added.

Progress toward achieving the project’s development objectives (PDOs) and overall implementation progress (IP) remained “moderately unsatisfactory,” while its overall risk rating also remained “substantial.”
The project aims to enhance the safety and seismic resilience of selected public buildings in Metro Manila as well as strengthen the DPWH’s capacity to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Despite recent gains, only $67.59 million, or 22.53 percent, of the investment project financing (IPF) has been disbursed since the loan was approved and became effective back in 2021.

Manila Bulletin reported earlier that the World Bank granted the project a six-month interim extension, moving the loan closing date to Dec. 31, 2026, from the original June 30 deadline, after the Philippine government sought more time to implement key activities that had yet to begin.

About 425 public buildings are targeted for retrofitting, with an estimated 290,000 direct beneficiaries. However, the latest report showed that civil works have yet to start and no buildings have been retrofitted to date, even after contracts were awarded last May.

According to the World Bank, a time extension is needed to complete the civil works and meet the target of 425 buildings.

The delays followed years of funding as well as implementation constraints. As Manila Bulletin reported earlier, the project had no Philippine government budget allocations in 2023 and 2024, while the 2025 national budget provided ₱2.798 billion from World Bank loan proceeds but no counterpart government financing.

The record ₱6.793-trillion 2026 national budget allocated ₱194.138 million for the project, consisting of ₱46.146 million in government counterpart funding plus ₱147.992 million from loan proceeds, budget documents showed.

The World Bank had previously flagged the “persistent lack of budget cover” for the project, which contributed to delays in launching civil works procurement as well as retrofitting public schools and health facilities.

The latest World Bank report showed that progress has been stronger in emergency preparedness. A total of 124 emergency response equipment units have been commissioned, exceeding the end-of-project target of 70 units and partly enhancing the DPWH’s capacity to clear debris as well as restore transport mobility post-disaster.

Still, capacity-building activities for DPWH personnel have yet to begin, while the procurement of consultants remains underway. The project targets 600 DPWH staff meeting minimum operational readiness standards for emergency preparedness and response.

World Bank estimates had shown that “The Big One”—a magnitude-7.2 earthquake along West Valley Fault—could result in about 48,000 deaths and inflict economic losses of as much as $48 billion.

Related Tags

World Bank Big One earthquake Metro Manila Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.