New tack to address ROW issues

President Marcos has finally taken cognizance of the incessant right-of-way (ROW) problems that have hounded vital infrastructure projects for years. He has created an interagency committee to streamline—and hopefully expedite—the process of acquiring land needed to implement big railway projects. “Issues concerning land acquisition, as well as resettlement activities for project-affected persons, adversely affect the timelines for the implementation of [these] projects,” he pointed out.

Through Administrative Order No. 19, signed on March 25, forming the Inter-Agency Committee for Right of Way Activities for National Railway Projects, the President tasked the body to “study and devise an efficient and collaborative mechanism to streamline the process of land acquisition necessary for [their] implementation.” It will be headed by the secretaries of transportation and human settlements as chair and co-chair, respectively, and includes heads of several departments as well as the solicitor general as members. While there is a law, Republic Act No. 10752 or the 2016 Right-of-Way Act, that authorizes the government to acquire land needed for government infrastructure projects, a number of these are delayed by ROW issues.

‘Build, build, build’

For instance, in a meeting with Inquirer reporters and editors in December 2018, then senator Panfilo Lacson noted that some P74.6 billion worth of road projects with ROW problems had zero or close-to-zero physical accomplishments as of October that year, citing figures from the Department of Public Works and Highways.

During the Duterte administration, a number of projects under its ambitious “Build, build, build” program also got stalled due to ROW problems.

Even under the Marcos administration, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista admitted in early March that ROW issues were threatening the 2029 deadline for the completion of the 33-kilometer Metro Manila subway project. He cited one building classified as an important cultural property of the Department of Education that will be affected by one station and the opposition of several affected homeowners to the subway’s alignment passing through their properties.

Compensating informal settlers

It is hoped that this latest attempt at resolving a persistent problem delaying infrastructure projects will finally yield results. The interagency committee formed by Mr. Marcos can look at the 2020 policy brief titled “Strengthening the ROW Act to Accelerate Infrastructure Growth” prepared by the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department.

It contains details of the various ROW issues impeding government projects, particularly on valuation during the negotiation stage that has led to the failure of talks with property owners and triggered lengthy expropriation proceedings in the courts. Still, the scheme must also be fair to the affected property owners.

The paper emphasized the need to amend RA 10752 to address many issues such as the ambiguities in compensating informal settlers since the law is not clear whether they are also entitled to the replacement cost of their structures, and projects that will traverse property owned by indigenous peoples given that the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 or RA 8371 provides that properties belonging to them cannot be sold, disposed, and destroyed.

Zonal value

It also pointed out that since many of the ROW problems have already reached litigation, the requirement under RA 10752 for the courts to issue the writ of possession seven days after an implementing agency has started the expropriation proceedings and after payment of 100 percent of the zonal value of the property was not being strictly followed because of clogged court dockets. The newly formed committee can thus consider the policy brief’s suggestion to put up a Special Court for ROW cases to speed up the handling and resolution of all expropriation cases.

The Marcos administration has promised to push infrastructure development to bring the economy to a higher growth path. But no matter how much increase is made in budget outlays for infrastructure, this will not happen if the implementation of projects continues to be bogged down by ROW problems.

Long-delayed interconnection

Delayed projects deprive the people of the benefits of more convenient, faster, and cheaper public transport systems, and entail additional costs.

If the latest approach in solving ROW issues proves successful, the President should also order the same strategy for other infrastructure undertakings that have similarly been delayed by ROW problems, including the long-delayed interconnection of the different power grids, the seaports needed by an archipelago such as the Philippines, and even secondary roads that many provinces need to progress and catch up with the metropolis. With the President’s directive, the concerned government agencies have no more excuses not to finally clear the roadblocks that delay important infrastructure projects.