Comparing infrastructure scorecards

IN a press conference last Friday, the presidential adviser on flagships and projects and chief of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), Vivencio "Vince" Dizon, provided a summary of the Duterte administration's accomplishments in infrastructure development, which, as everyone is aware, the administration has made the centerpiece of its policy aspirations. A similar summary was provided toward the end of the Aquino administration - it can now be found in the Official Gazette - and so it is now possible to compare the two administrations on even terms.

According to Dizon, there were a total of about 20,000 projects under the umbrella of the Duterte administration's Build, Build, Build (BBB) program. Under the Aquino administration, there were 41,000 projects claimed. In both administrations, the majority of these could be considered "normal" work, the usual construction, upgrade and maintenance of various infrastructure that any government should carry out during its term.