The claims by officials of the Duterte administration and his supporters that the Davao City Bypass Construction Project (Davao bypass project) was initiated under the incumbent government’s centerpiece “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program is misleading.
The Davao bypass project was not conceived during President Rodrigo Duterte’s term but was initiated and approved during the previous administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III.
The original loan agreement for the Davao bypass project was proposed by the Aquino administration with and approved by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Then JICA President Akihiko Tanaka and then Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima signed the loan agreement for the Davao bypass project during the former’s visit to the Philippines in August 2015. The duo also signed the loan agreement for the Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project. https://www.jica.go.jp/philippine/english/office/topics/news/150826.html
JICA extended Japanese Official Development Assistance loan to both projects amounting to JPY33.689 billion under the Special Terms for Economic Partnership or STEP program terms, which will help utilize Japanese technologies and experiences.
On June 16, 2020, the Philippines and Japan signed the loan agreement for the supplemental financing of P18.5 billion (JPY35 billion) for the Davao bypass project, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez was quoted in a news release titled “Dominguez: Mindanao to stay at ‘front and center’ of ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.” https://www.dof.gov.ph/dominguez-mindanao-to-stay-at-front-and-center-of-build-build-build-program/
Actual work on the project began in 2017, under Duterte. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/235213-davao-city-gets-more-foreign-funding-under-duterte/
On November 19, 2021, Public Works Secretary Roger Mercado and Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa led in witnessing the start of tunnel boring activity for the 2.3-kilometer twin tunnels of the Davao bypass project, the country’s first long distance mountain tunnel. https://www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/11_000001_00644.html
The twin tunnels are a key component of the 45.5-kilometer Davao bypass project, which will begin in Barangay Sirawan, Toril, Davao City and end in Barangay J.P. Laurel, Panabo City in Davao del Norte. Once completed, the tunnels will help reduce travel time from almost two hours via the Pan-Philippine Highway to just 49 minutes.
The project’s tunneling activity will use specialized equipment such as drill jumbo, concrete spraying machine and articulated dump hauler, which will work simultaneously at the north and south portals to construct the two tunnels with a height of eight meters and a width of 10 meters. The tunnel is part of Contract Package 1-1 covering 10.7-kilometer of a four-lane highway, which also includes the construction of three pairs of bridges, two underpasses, two overpasses, four at-grade intersections, and 12 box-culverts for drainage.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)
