Cayetano urges DPWH to build up rural areas amid rapid urbanization
Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to invest more aggressively in rural infrastructure, arguing that the continued concentration of roads and basic services in cities is driving migration and worsening rapid urbanization.
During the DPWH’s 2027 budget briefing on September 25, Cayetano linked flooding and congestion in heavily populated areas to a broader development imbalance that has pushed more Filipinos toward urban centers over the decades.
“I’d like to encourage us and to keep saying na kung ano y’ung itanim natin, ‘yan ang aanihin natin. So we can’t keep complaining of massive urbanization and not building in the rural areas. We’re all guilty of it,” he said.
Cayetano contrasted rural development in the Philippines with communities abroad where residents can live outside major cities without losing access to essential services.
“The thing is in Europe, for example, ‘pag sinabing rural, there’s electricity, water, internet, school, and hospital. In the Philippines, when it’s rural, it’s dirt-poor,” he said.
He called on the DPWH to determine how much of its infrastructure spending goes to rural areas compared with urban centers as part of a broader review of whether public investment is helping distribute growth more evenly across the country.
The senator proposed giving greater infrastructure support to provinces that have remained among the country’s poorest for years, describing the approach as a form of “affirmative action” rather than favoritism.
“There are about five to 10 provinces that have been perennially, for the last 20 years, in the 20 poorest. Mataas doon ang stunting, mataas doon ang lahat, heart disease, etc. Mataas din doon ang insurgency. So baka hindi lang DOH (Department of Health), DOTr (Department of Transportation), DepEd (Department of Education) ang sagot sa lugar na y’un. Baka DPWH din,” he said.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon agreed that allocations should be more equitable, noting increased allocations for poorer regions such as Bicol and Eastern Visayas and acknowledging that rapid urbanization has made flood control more difficult in densely populated areas.
Cayetano stressed that long-term infrastructure planning should bring roads and essential services closer to rural communities instead of waiting for populations to move into already congested urban centers.
“If we don’t build it, it won’t come. So if we don’t put the roads, we don’t put the internet, we don’t put the hospitals, the schools in those rural areas, lilipat lang talaga [ang mga tao] sa urban areas,” he said.
Filipino Version
DPWH hinikayat ni Cayetano na palakasin ang imprastraktura sa mga probinsya
Hinimok ni Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano ang Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) na dagdagan ang pamumuhunan sa imprastraktura sa mga lugar na rural o panlalawigan upang hindi mapilitan ang mga Pilipino na lumipat sa mga siyudad para lamang makakuha ng pangunahing serbisyo.
Sa briefing para sa 2027 budget ng DPWH nitong September 25, iniugnay ni Cayetano ang pagbaha at pagsisikip ng mga urban area sa hindi pantay na pag-unlad ng mga lugar sa bansa, na aniya’y nagtutulak sa mas maraming Pilipino na manirahan sa mga siyudad.
“I’d like to encourage us and to keep saying na kung ano y’ung itanim natin, ‘yan ang aanihin natin. So we can’t keep complaining of massive urbanization and not building in the rural areas. We’re all guilty of it,” wika niya.
Inihambing ni Cayetano ang kalagayan ng mga rural na komunidad sa Pilipinas sa ibang bansa kung saan hindi kailangang manirahan sa malalaking siyudad para makakuha ng mga pangunahing serbisyo.
“The thing is in Europe, for example, ‘pag sinabing rural, there’s electricity, water, internet, school, and hospital. In the Philippines, when it’s rural, it’s dirt-poor,” wika niya.
Hiniling ng senador sa DPWH na suriin kung gaano kalaki ang bahagi ng infrastructure spending na napupunta sa mga rural area kumpara sa mga urban center bilang bahagi ng mas malawak na pagsusuri kung patas bang naipapamahagi ang mga proyekto at benepisyo ng pag-unlad sa buong bansa.
Iminungkahi ni Cayetano na mas tutukan ang mga probinsyang matagal nang kabilang sa pinakamahihirap sa bansa. Aniya, isa itong uri ng “affirmative action” at hindi favoritism.
“There are about five to 10 provinces that have been perennially, for the last 20 years, in the 20 poorest. Mataas doon ang stunting, mataas doon ang lahat, heart disease, etc. Mataas din doon ang insurgency. So baka hindi lang DOH (Department of Health), DOTr (Department of Transportation), DepEd (Department of Education) ang sagot sa lugar na y’un. Baka DPWH din,” wika niya.
Sumang-ayon naman si Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon na dapat mas patas ang alokasyon ng pondo, at binanggit ang mas malaking alokasyon para sa mga rehiyong gaya ng Bicol at Eastern Visayas.
Ayon kay Dizon, nakadadagdag din sa hamon sa flood control ang mabilis na pagdami ng populasyon sa mga urban area dahil mas maraming tao ang nagsisiksikan sa mga lugar na limitado ang espasyo.
Binigyang diin ni Cayetano na kailangang isaalang-alang sa pangmatagalang pagpaplano ng imprastraktura ang pagdadala ng mga kalsada at pangunahing serbisyo sa mga rural na komunidad, sa halip na hintaying lumipat ang mga tao sa mga siyudad na siksikan na.
“If we don’t build it, it won’t come. So if we don’t put the roads, we don’t put the internet, we don’t put the hospitals, the schools in those rural areas, lilipat lang talaga [ang mga tao] sa urban areas,” wika niya.
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