Eight provinces are now closer to Metro Manila thanks to Build, Build, Build Aerial shot of TPLEX, photo from the Facebook of DPWH secretary In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte embarked to build the Luzon Spine Expressway Network—a 1,040-kilometer expressway network, which would connect the...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When I was in high school — I watched “The Bucketlist” with two of my closest friends — Karen Jumarang Tan and Chynna Cuna. It was a film staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman about two terminally ill men on a road trip with a list of things to do...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo The land area of Tokyo is thrice the size of Metro Manila but the vehicle density in Manila is higher. There are about 9.3 million vehicles competing in PH’s limited road network. In 2016, majority of the 32,770 km of national roads are at saturation levels —...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo When I was in college, I dreamt about the Philippines I did not see. I wanted to explore the 81 provinces with my own eyes, to meet the Filipinos who live there, to find out their dreams and aspirations. As I jump from one province to the other, I realized that...
NIGHT OWL Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo A few years back while attending the Leaders in Development programme of Harvard Kennedy School, our professor asked us to write one thing which we aspired to achieve in the next ten years. We wrote it in a piece of paper and placed it beside our name card. I...
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 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 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...
