Dridgely Dy Assignment 4

CEM 18 - B REACTION PAPER

The PID webinar was a very well structured webinar that consisted of the findings of the
road and railway transport infrastructure as well as examining the current problems that exist in
our transportation system in the Philippines. I am interested in the thought that the speakers
and the leading forefront in improving our transportation systems view that the current
problems that we are facing can’t be resolved in short term goals, instead they are focusing on
long term goals, to be globally competitive in our railway systems by the year of 2040. It’s
astonishing to realize and know that the quality of our roads in the Philippines are at a lower
percentage of 41.22% in national roads, and 51.03% in bridges. This data ensures that some
contractors who got the project didn’t follow the DPWH standard of the material that was used
in constructing the road infrastructure. However, this would not be the case all the time, as the
railway system, seaports, and air transport isn’t that good to transport goods or other materials
to their designated location, they ought to use trucks to transport it, therefore having heavy
loads on the national roads and bridges, making it undergo extreme wear and tear on the
roads. Overall, it is a really good webinar, it opened my eyes to the transportation problems that
the Philippines are facing in the present, hopefully the road map that the researchers, and
speakers predicted would happen in the near future.

Upon further research on the matter, the Philippines rank the lowest among the ASEAN
countries. The Philippines already improved on their transportation systems over the years, but
it still ranks low in other neighboring countries. This was evident since there are only a few
options in improving the transportation of logistics. Though the budget of the Philippines heavily
leads towards the transport sector, the development is still considered slow, since the DPWH
and DOTr have low absorptive capacity for funds. Compared to Singapore, they have a lower
budget compared to the Philippines. Singapore infrastructure spending set to exceed $10 billion
dollars per year (World Construction Network, 2019), while Philippines is set to have a budget
over 1.2 trillion pesos approximately 21 billion dollars(DBM, 2022), so why does Singapore has a
lower budget compared to the Philippines but their transportation infrastructure have a better
quality and have a higher quantity compared to the Philippines? I believe that the data shown in
the webinar can attest to that, showing a higher disbursement rate as well as the obligation
rate.

It was stated in the webinar that one of the persistent problems in implementation of
road projects were some contractors failing to comply with the DPWH Quality Control Program
which delayed in improving the road quality, this would lead to a punishment, banning the
contractor in continuing the project, thus turning it over to other takers from the bidding
process. However some of the reasons why the project can be delayed is due to natural
calamities, man power, and other construction related problems. Other problems would be the
delay of acquiring the budget from the president, it was stated that the budget proposed for
constructing the roads and bridges was approved around May, but the money got released
around December. This issue should be fixed if we want our transportation systems improved.

Covid 19 heavily impacted the road and rail projects in the country, especially in the
rural areas where water transportation is used. One of the examples I could think of is projects
in Camiguin Island; there were strict protocols when Covid 19 was at its highest point, making it
harder to access and deliver construction supplies to rural areas. Other problems would include
lesser workforce in the logistics company as well as the construction company, because of covid
19 restrictions. To further expound on this topic, ever since the pandemic has entered the
Philippines, there are many transportation restrictions as well as company restrictions. This has
heavily impacted on construction, not just on roads, but as well as vertical construction
projects. However, the restrictions of Covid 19 nowadays are not that strict, so hopefully we can
further develop our transportation infrastructures in the Philippines. However, Covid 19 also
positively impacted on road projects in the Philippines, in which they constructed bike lanes,
since the population was keen more towards using active transport during the pandemic
because of low congestion and using public transport at the peak of the pandemic was more
dangerous than riding your bike. “The SWS survey shows that this is very much untrue, with
only one out of 10 households using bicycles for exercise, sightseeing, or play. It turns out that
one in five households uses bicycles for essential trips, such as grocery shopping and
commuting, both to and from work, and other nonwork-related destinations” (Bosshard, 2022).
The SWS survey contributed heavily as DPWH caught on, and started implementing bike lanes
to the major cities in the Philippines.

The researchers are heavily promoting the implementation and improvement of more
bike lanes to other cities in the Philippines. There was a quote by Dr. Roberto Siy said that stood
very meaningful to me, he stated that “Don’t build based on what you see in today’s demand,
you should build in terms of the type of travel demand you want to see tomorrow.” To further
expound his statement, DPWH should build bike lanes that satisfy private transporters. There
was a reason why Filipinos rode their bikes in 2020 when the pandemic first started, it was
because there was no congestion, and the roads are much more safer for bicycles to use as a
form of active transport. “The quickly imposed lockdowns in 2020 cleared our roads of vehicles,
kept people indoors for a significant amount of time, and made public transportation feel like a
dangerous situation due to a communicable disease. A confluence of factors that led more and
more people to see the bicycle not just as a toy for leisure, but as a valid form of transportation
as well” (Bosshard, 2022). Furthermore, if we can develop our cities that are safe for cyclists to
travel, then I believe that both public and private transporters are more keen towards using
active transport rather than public transport or their own private vehicle. They also want to
improve on public transport making it desirable for private vehicle owners to migrate and use
public transport to reduce congestion happening in cities and local roads. As for rail transport,
they want to expand more on routes residing in the city, and implement more rail projects in
cities that have more demand based on their statistical data.

Furthermore, the webinar enhanced my understanding on why there are delays on the
construction of the roads and railway infrastructures. I got to fully understand the problems that
are occurring on the implementation of road projects, as well as the impact on Covid 19 in
relation to the construction of roads and railways. I hope that in their presented timeline, that
by the time of 2040 and beyond, our transportation systems have caught up to other countries
globally.

REFERENCES:

Breaking down barriers in the logistics industry in the Philippines. BIMP. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://bimp-eaga.asia/article/breaking-down-barriers-logistics-industry-philippines

Main challenges for logistics in the Philippines. https://www.transportify.com.ph.

(n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.transportify.com.ph/main-challenges-for-logistics-in-the-philippines/

Road and rail transport infrastructure in the Philippines: Current State, issues, and
challenges. PIDS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.pids.gov.ph/publication/discussion-papers/road-and-rail-transport-infra
structure-in-the-philippines-current-state-issues-and-challenges

Asian Development Bank (ADB). (2014, November 14). Philippines Transport Sector
Assessment, strategy and road M. ADB Reports. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://ideas.repec.org/p/asd/wpaper/rps124914.html

Macroeconomic prospects of the Philippines in 2023: Steering through ... (n.d.).

Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://pidswebs.pids.gov.ph/CDN/document/Feb-16-2023-webinar-presenter-PIDS-D
r-Adoracion-Navarro-Jokkaz-Latigar-v2.pdf

GlobalData. (2022, July 21). Singapore infrastructure spending set to exceed $10bn
per year. World Construction Network. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.worldconstructionnetwork.com/comment/singapore-infrastructure-spe
nding-set-to-exceed-10bn-per-year/#:~:text=The%20quality%20of%20infrastructure
%20in,stability%20and%20general%20economic%20prosperity.

Budget chief discusses infrastructure growth in first int'l Philippine Economic

Briefing. Budget Chief discusses infrastructure growth in first int'l Philippine
Economic Briefing. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/secretary-s-corner/press-releases/list-of-press-r
eleases/2365-budget-chief-discusses-infrastructure-growth-in-first-int-l-philippine-e
conomic-briefing#:~:text=The%20infrastructure%20 spending%20 target%20
shall,the%20FY%202023%20 proposed%20 budget.

Neil. (2022, October 13). DPWH promises fewer infra delays caused by lack of
project studies. BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.bworldonline.com/economy/2022/10/13/480642/dpwh-promises-fewer-in
fra-delays-caused-by-lack-of-project-studies/

Kim, K. (2021, March). Impacts of COVID-19 on transportation: Summary and

synthesis of interdisciplinary research. Transportation research interdisciplinary
perspectives. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7813510/

Serrano, M. R., & Castillo, R. C. J. (2020). The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on
the Construction Industry in the Philippines. Philippine Journal of Labor and
Industrial Relations, 37(0).
https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pjlir/article/view/8866

Zamani, S. H., Rahman, R. A., Fauzi, M. A., & Yusof, L. M. (2021). Effect of COVID-19
on building construction projects: Impact and response mechanisms. IOP
Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 682(1), 012049.
https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/682/1/012049

H Hans Bosshard, H, Bosshard, H., H Hans Bosshard Hans is t, & Hans is the
ultimate commuter: He drives a car and he rides a bicycle. He also likes tinkering
with mechanical stuff. (2022, February 7). SWS: Bike usage increased in ph during
the pandemic. VISOR PH. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from
https://visor.ph/bikes/sws-bikes-are-preferred-mode-of-transpo-in-ph/
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