Senator Edgardo Angara. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Edgardo Angara on Wednesday urged the government to increase its spending on overdue infrastructure projects.
In a statement, Angara said the country was still very much lacking in important infrastructure like road networks, particularly in the countryside, airports and seaports.
A “well-planned transportation network,” he said, was necessary to spur growth nationwide.
“We are a fragmented geography across an area of 300,000 square kilometers. Transportation networks and systems are therefore vital to the mobility of our people and the goods and products we trade,” Angara said in a statement.
Angara, vice-chair of the Senate committee on finance, noted that investing in transportation networks will give a boost to tourism and the local economy.
“Improving our transportation network will encourage commerce and trade between the different islands, which is severely limited now. We are still very Manila-centric in terms of trade because of the lack in transportation infrastructure,” he explained.
“We must avoid the same mistake of underspending on such vital initiatives. Being overly cautious will stifle our economic growth. We must build on the momentum of robust first quarter growth through aggressive but smart spending,” the senator added.