Aiza T. Caya, a Palale National High School (NHS) teacher, expressed her gratitude for the new building in her municipality in MacArthur, Leyte. “We are so blessed that we are one of the recipients of this one-story, four-classroom building. On behalf of the Palale NHS, learners, teachers, and stakeholders, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and we will look forward to the day when the department will be able to help other schools in need of classrooms,” she said.
The school building, completed in July 2024 with a construction budget of PhP10.42 million, was born out of the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on social infrastructure. “Aside from agriculture and disaster risk, our other vital sectors and pillars – such as education, health, energy, low-cost housing, transport, information technology – they all stand to benefit from our aggressive infrastructure development,” he stated in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
On the DPWH accomplishment list, 6,705 school buildings (classrooms) were built since the Marcos administration held office in July 2022 up to March 2024. “Education is the most valuable service that the government can give to its citizens. After preservation of life and limb, education comes next,” the President enthused in a 2023 interview.
Baler Central School, Aurora Province
The educator’s experience in Palale NHS is replicated in 216 identified sites with the construction of 1,834 new classrooms. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) through the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) in March 2024 issued the funds to the requesting agencies – the DPWH and the Department of Education (DepEd).
Basic Education Facilities, in conjunction with the DepEd which funds the projects, forms part of the three-point subprograms under the Social Infrastructure Program of the DPWH. Evacuation Centers and Infrastructure Projects in Support of National Peace and Security complete the program. Active Transport Program is another subprogram under the Resilient and Sustainable Communities umbrella.
Evacuation Centers
It used to be that public schools, during calamities, transform into evacuation centers, which inadvertently stall classes from resuming long after the crises had passed. This situation leaves the learners behind in their studies. To address this, the department built more than 100 dedicated evacuation centers in 21 months, all during the Marcos administration.
One such center is the PhP42.99-million Multi-Purpose Building (Evacuation Center) in Barangay Langaton in Bacacay, Albay. During the severe tropical storm Kristine (Trami) in October 2024, the Multi-Purpose Building became the community’s refuge. “The project has been a great help to us as it served as an evacuation center during Typhoon Kristine,” Jimmy Celzo, Barangay Kagawad of Barangay Langaton, said in the Bikol language.
“It also provided us with a proper venue for our activities, eliminating the need to go elsewhere. Even neighboring barangays have benefited from it, using the facility for their events. Truly, this project is invaluable to our community,” he added.
Some 311 kilometers away, another local official from another barangay expressed her gratitude for the newly constructed evacuation center in December 2024, which serves as an essential shelter during flooding, a perennial concern in the small community. The 13 x 16-meter center, with a project cost of PhP9.87 million in Barangay Lomala-og in Las Navas, Northern Samar, has all the essential facilities to shelter people in the community during calamities.
Before the advent of the evacuation center, Barangay Lomala-og residents for many years had nowhere to go when they needed to move their families to safe grounds during the floods.
In their Waray-Waray language, Barangay Kagawad Jenneth Grace C. Cabe shared: “Every time it rains heavily, we get flooded. We had to go to the mountains, and others from our area stayed in houses in elevated areas.” She continued, “When a calamity does strike, we know we’re already safe because we have somewhere to evacuate to. Since I was still a child, we’ve really hoped for this, and now it’s been realized.”
Relative to this, the President signed into law in December 2024 the Ligtas Pinoy Centers Act (Republic Act No. 12076). The piece of legislation “mandates the establishment of fully equipped evacuation centers nationwide to provide secure, temporary accommodation to disaster-affected residents”.
“In many visits to temporary shelters, I saw the plight of evacuees. We need to ensure that the evacuation centers sufficiently respond to the needs of our people affected by calamities and other such emergencies,” Marcos said during the signing ceremony. “Investing in these climate-resilient facilities must be the norm. We are not only protecting the people’s lives, but also capacitating our local government units to respond, to reduce, and to manage the risks of disasters,” he added.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is its lead implementing agency of the new law while the DPWH is tasked with the construction of the evacuation centers. The latter agency likewise ensures that the structures comply with the provisions of the National Building Code of the Philippines and other applicable laws.
In support of peace and security
Artist’s Perspective – DPWH BARMM Project Management Office
The President recommended the establishment of a DPWH Regional Office and a District Engineering Office in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to address the infrastructure requirements of the region faster. The Bangsamoro Government, for its part, is now pursuing a legislative action to ensure the swift passage of the bill for the offices’ creation.
“We knew that peace to our people will be found in the businesses launched, in the jobs that were created, the schools, the new hospitals that were opened, the farms that were irrigated, the roads that will be constructed,” Marcos said in his speech during the 10th Commemoration of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in April 2024.
Leading the high impact infrastructure programs in support of national peace and security is the Road Network Development Project in Conflict-Affected Areas in Mindanao (RNDP-CAAM).
The RNDP-CAAM aims to develop, construct, and improve around 177.34 kilometers of access roads that connect BARMM with other regions. The project is envisioned to have a net positive impact on commerce and trade by providing physical connectivity. This, in turn, will help alleviate the poverty level in the area, contribute in mitigating historical and cultural conflicts, and thereby promote peace and order.
RNDP-CAAM has a project cost of PhP12.86 billion funded through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan agreement with a schedule that started in May 2021 and will end in December 2028. The project has an ongoing status. The Marawi Transcentral Road, Phase III, on the other hand, has completed four contract packages.
The construction of three bridges in Tawi-Tawi under the Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ongoing. The project seeks to upgrade around 280 kilometers of national primary, secondary, and tertiary roads throughout Mindanao. Some of the improvements include paving roads, repairing damaged sections, widening existing lanes, adding surface overlays, and strengthening bridges.
Sulu Circumferential Road
Other DPWH projects in BARMM are as follows: The Mindanao River Basin project, which includes the proposed Ambal-Simuay River and Rio Grande de Mindanao River Flood Control Projects in Central Mindanao. Another ADB supported project is the Agus River Basin, wherein the procurement of a civil works contractor is now ongoing. A proposed Infrastructure Development Plan for Greater Metropolitan Sulu, funded by the World Bank, is also in the works, encompassing multi-sectoral projects such as the Sulu Circumferential Road, water supply, and sanitation system development. The Municipality of Jolo in Sulu is a target area under the proposed Accelerated Water and Sanitation Project in Selected Areas (AWSPSA) under the World Bank. (PTV)
