NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo On my first night in self-quarantine, one of my classmates — Dr. Melvin Sanicas, a physician and scientist working as medical director, dropped me a personal message in Facebook: “Anna, What happened? Hope it’s not serious. Get well soon.” It was a start of...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo To effectively usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure, the Philippine government under President Rodrigo Duterte increased infrastructure spending from 5.4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017, to a possible 7.3 percent by the end of...
Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The story of EDSA need not be told. Anyone who have stepped in Manila would know — and would have complained at some point — about the world’s worst city for drivers. While other nationalities would ask about the weather, Filipinos would talk about the traffic. This is...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo Construction of Epifanio de Los Santos Avenue, more popularly known as EDSA, started in the 1930s. Initially, the project, which was named North-South Circumferential Road, only spanned from North Luzon Expressway to Magallanes Interchange. It was only in the...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program is composed of thousands of projects meant to connect, facilitate growth in 81 provinces, 18 regions around the country with an estimated cost of about P8 trillion. In the Department of Public Works...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo A Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) report released in 2012 indicated that the Philippines lost P2.4 billion a day due to traffic congestion in Metro Manila. Six years after, a study conducted by JICA said the number had gone up to P3.5 billion. Now,...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo In The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2018 Infrascope Report, the Philippines ranked second in the Asia Infrascope Index, “a benchmarking tool that evaluates the capacity of countries to implement sustainable and efficient public-private partnerships (PPPs).”...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The “Build, Build, Build” program is the Duterte administration’s medium-term goal to increase infrastructure spending from 5.4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017, to 7.3 percent by the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo Back in 2016, when “Build, Build, Build” was just starting, a lot of people had doubts. One friend looked me in the eye and said, “This was another campaign promise meant to be broken.” We were likened to ardent suitors prepared to say anything. We could not...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When Pigalo Bridge in Isabela was devastated by typhoons Pedring and Quiel in 2011, farmers who wanted to deliver their agricultural products to Manila or Tuguegarao had to take a 76-km detour via Alicia-Angadanan-San Guillermo-Naguilian Road. After it was...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The economy of the Philippines is the world's 28th largest economy by GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) according to the 2018 estimate of the International Monetary Fund. Under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, Philippines recorded a GDP (PPP) of 956...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo In the last 28 years, I have survived an active firefight and a sinking boat. I have visited all the regions in my country. And I have seen it a few days after it was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda and the Marawi seige. Just last week, I was suppose to be in Sri...
