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...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), poverty incidence among Filipinos has decreased by 6.6 percentage points, from 27.6 percent in the first half of 2015 to 21 percent in the first half of 2018. In the report of the National Economic and...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo If you are a thalassophile like me, then you’d love the upcoming opening of Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), an 89.31 km expressway connecting Tarlac, Pangasinan, and La Union. Whether you’re surfing in San Juan or cliff-diving in Tangadan Falls in...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The story of South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Toll Road 4 (TR4) is a peculiar one. The project spanning 66.74 km broke ground for at least seven times. But Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar promised that the March 26 groundbreaking would be...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When President Rodrigo Roa Duterte promised to ease Metro Manila traffic at the start of his term, he meant every word. At the onset, he tasked Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar to build a master plan that will connect all the cities in...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo According to World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes while at least 20 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result. More than half of all...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo In the United States, the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) mandates all states to adopt water quality standards that would define how much of pollutants can be in the water such that it might meet the minimum threshold for water, fishing and swimming, and other...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When the construction of Mindanao Avenue Extension started, Melvin Navarro was a fresh graduate from college. Year after year — he would pass by the same alignment, which if completed would connect North Caloocan to both the North Luzon Expressway and Quezon City....
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo A total of 939.38 km of High-Standard Highways/Expressways are targeted to be implemented/constructed in Luzon, which is about twice the 382.26 km of existing expressways. Once completed, the travel time from Metro Manila to La Union will be reduced from six hours...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo Since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in June, 2016, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under the leadership of Secretary Mark Villar has built, widened, and retrofitted at least 3,945 kilometers of roads and 2,423 bridges. This 2018,...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo While attending the 6th ASEAN Connectivity Forum in Seoul, I learned that during the 1960s, the Philippines had the second highest per capita income in Asia, behind only Japan. A decade after, South Korea had passed our country in per capita income terms, largely...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When I was in Massachusetts last year, the city government of Boston just launched the “Go Boston 2030 Vision Framework” — an initiative which hopes to cement Boston’s place as America’s most walkable city by putting up infrastructure that would improve...
