Big infrastructure projects

The first era of sustained infrastructure investment projects in the country since independence can be attributed to the first Marcos presidency.

It appears that the second Marcos presidency will further culminate in the strong rebirth of infrastructure investments in the country.

From 1966-1986: Marcos Senior. When Ferdinand Marcos became president in 1966, he immediately embarked on infrastructure investments to support his economic program. He was the first president ever elected to a second four-year term, which made his elected term of office twice longer than any previous president of the Republic. When he declared martial law in 1972, his rule extended to a total of 20 years.

As a result of this long period of rule as the nation’s leader, he was able to build a large portfolio of infrastructure investments that laid out the transportation networks, provided irrigation and water for agricultural use and urban consumption, and generated electricity to the growth of industry and commerce. These infrastructure projects benefited the nation for many years beyond his term of service.

A review of the nature of these investments is called for. (It is also part of a larger exercise that I am making in relation to a paper that I am preparing at the UP School of Economics to commemorate 50 years of economic policy-making in the country.)

A system of roads and ports. First, he extended and expanded the system of transportation in the country. The transport network that covered the island archipelago became a system of connected major roads from the north of the country to its southernmost points. The road systems of the major islands – Luzon, Mindanao, and the larger Visayan islands – were enlarged and elaborated. Many new green projects were introduced to exploit the potentials of local island economic systems. The first express highway systems north and south of Manila in Luzon island were built during this period, bringing prosperity to both central and southern Luzon provinces.

This transport network included the primary system of national roads, the connections of the provincial and rural roads to this network. The activities relating to the road system also connected to the system of seaports and airports. The improvement of major ports and the expansion of selected seaports helped to expand commercial traffic in important cities, like the ports of Bacolod, Iloilo, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Cebu and Batangas.

Water investments for agriculture and urban consumption. Investments in water resources led to the construction of large catchment systems for water. Angat Dam, the Upper Pampanga River Dam, and the Magat Dam all contributed to the rapid development expansion of agriculture in Luzon.

Provincial irrigation systems in Pangasinan, in Tarlac, in the island of Panay and in Cotabato and in Polangui River in Mindanao were some of the local irrigation systems built and developed.

Had local opposition not been so disruptive and marked during those years, major catchment systems would have been built around the Chico River in the Cordilleras and in the Bicol River Basin. Unfortunately, those regions have not been able to enjoy the benefits of these projects in raising local economic productivity as a result.

Power generation. The investments in energy infrastructure were another aspect of the major achievements of this period. In part, they were designed to meet the growing needs of the nation for electricity. For another, the infrastructure investments were also made in response to high volatility of world energy prices.

Hydroelectric power was partly a source of energy generation. Some of the dam projects, like the Upper Pampanga and the Magat dam in Isabela had energy generation components. And many hydro power projects along the Polangui and Mindanao River were designed as potential sources of energy production.

The government undertook to build a number of carbon-fed power plants for electricity generation, but it tried to expand energy production from non-traditional means. It helped the expansion of privately generated power plant

The energy crisis of the 1970s caused the price of electricity to go up and become unpredictable. Diversification of power production was needed in order to reduce dependence on carbon fuels. It also led to the intensification of the search for new and traditional energy sources in the country.

The exploration for carbon-fields had been of limited success, but that for geothermal sources were self-evident for a volcanic archipelagic land mass. The Philippines became a major geothermal energy producer during these years. The major geothermal plants were built in Leyte; smaller plants were built in Tiwi, Albay and in Palimpinon, in Negros Oriental.

Finally, the Philippines became among the first countries in Asia, along with Japan and South Korea, to build a nuclear power plant to generate electricity.

(Unfortunately, this last major investment was not put to use by the succeeding government mainly for political reasons. The other countries whose economic progress during the same period of time owed part of their outstanding economic success from their timely use of nuclear power.)

Planning, financing, and institutional strengthening. All these accomplishments could not have been accomplished without proper planning, institutional strengthening, and overall coordination of the effort of government.

The government centralized some functions, decentralized some other operations, coordinated many activities, and monitored step-by-step the implementation of projects as they moved in time.

The government built up project pipelines of infrastructure projects over time. The principal implementing agencies were strengthened to undertake their major tasks. The use of foreign technical assistance was maximized in some cases.

The government assiduously undertook efforts to raise budgetary capability. Such an effort was naturally also a consequence of being able to coordinate the financing of major infrastructure projects with the help of multilateral and bilateral development lending institutions. While these development lending institutions helped the country with the major financing of the long term investments, major counterpart tax-financed resources were raised by the government to close the financing gap.

I witnessed and participated in this process of nation-building. For half of the years in which many of the major investments were being undertaken, I was a part of the government in a responsible capacity. I was Cabinet head of the NEDA, an institution in which the president was chairman. Within this governance structure, I worked with many capable and dedicated colleagues who had the interest of the nation foremost in their actions and recommendations.

(To be continued)

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