NEGLECTED PROVINCES
The 2006 incidence rates also show that Camarines Norte and Eastern Samar had more impoverished families than seven of the 10 provinces with the highest per capita spending up to 2008. Which begs the question: Why didn’t these two provinces receive more infrastructure funds?

DPWH Secretary Ebdane explains the wide per capita infrastructure spending gap between the top 10 and bottom provinces — more than P10,000 for No. 1 slot occupant Catanduanes, compared with just a little over P6 for Western Samar, the last on the list — by saying that the DPWH does not use a “singular formula” in determining what kind of civil-works project is undertaken where.

“(T)he allocation for infrastructure projects by category is based on planning systems, which follow certain principles, depending on the specific type of infrastructure,” he adds.

Aside from category-specific parameters, the secretary says that the allocation for President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) projects also contributes significantly to the per capita spending in infrastructure of each province, with a marginal amount concentrated in some underdeveloped ones.

“The DPWH is guided mainly by the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) as well as the development agenda identified by the President in her SONA and other pronouncements in the implementation and planning of all projects,” says Ebdane. “Complementary to these are the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) guidelines as well as the inputs of the Regional Development Councils, local government executives, and the members of Congress.”

NO RHYME, REASON?
Comments former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin, now a professor at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance: “There is rhyme or reason as to why infrastructure projects are undertaken. The assumption is that it will solve a problem.”

She says infrastructure planning makes sure that public works funds are spent in necessary projects at the right places — and without sacrificing quality.

“Constructing a road is a very precise activity,” says Boncodin. “A good engineer would know how much it would cost a certain road, given the specifications. And if an engineer has been doing that his entire life, his level of accuracy should be very high — give or take changes in prices.”

Recently, though, the DPWH adopted the Highway Development and Management System 4 (HDM4), a computer-generated prioritization system that is based on economic viability and optimizing benefits to road users.

Boncodin commends this reform, saying that HDM4 would help the DPWH identify which projects ought to be funded.

“If the project is under HDM, then there is scientific basis on why a particular road is being constructed,” she says. “Kapag wala, inutos lang ng whoever (Without that, the project’s done just because someone ordered it done).”