IT IS THE MOST AUDACIOUS AND AMBITIOUS INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM THE COUNTRY HAS HAD IN THE PAST 50 YEARS.
From an average annual spend of 2.6% of the country’s GDP in the last six administrations, Year 1 (2017) of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program saw 6.3% of the GDP allocated to infrastructure building. The Department of Budget calculates the program will spend 7% of the GDP and an average annual budget of one trillion pesos by the end of Duterte’s term in 2022.
The man in charge of the Build Build Build program is DPWH Secretary, 40-year-old Mark Aguilar Villar, son of former Senate President Manny Villar and incumbent Senator Cynthia Villar.
When the DPWH asked BluPrint about advertising and promoting the program’s achievements, we invited the Secretary to be interviewed instead by two hard-nosed environment and urban management planners. The first is the Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Philippine Studies at UP Diliman, Lilia Casanova. She worked for 22 years at the United Nations, and her last post was Deputy Director for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The second is Nathaniel Von Einsiedel, principal of CONCEP or Consultants for Comprehensive Environmental Planning. Before that, he served as Regional Director for Asia-Pacific of the United Nations Urban Management Program for 13 years. Both Casanova and Von Einsidel worked at the Ministry for Human Settlements, for 14 and 16 years respectively. Here are excerpts from the hour-long interview moderated by BluPrint:
BluPrint: Who wants to throw the first question?
Mr. Secretary, the BBB Program is impressive. Very soon, we may be enjoying a Philippines that is very much physically connected. We have, however, a Philippine Development Plan called Ambisyon
